Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Virginia

protecting my father's home and other assests

My mother died this last Dec. and my 81 year old father is still living in his paid for home. He is in fairly good health but his memory is spotty. I'm hoping he will never go into a nursing home but I would like to know the best way to protect his assests in case he ever had to. I live about 30 min.away and have durable power of attorney for him. I have 3 siblings and his will splits everything equally among us. I've heard stories of nursing homes getting everything a person has saved and leaving nothing for the surviving adult children. This may sound selfish but I'm looking out for us also.

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Sincerely,

MCP


Asked on 2/01/05, 11:13 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Randy Masters The Law Office of Randy Masters

Re: protecting my father's home and other assests

Hello MCP:

Putting the real estate into a Medicaid Trust could protect the home, but the problem in placing property into an irrevocable trust is that there is a 5-year "look-back period," which means that the government could still reach back and get the home within the 5 years that it was placed into the trust.

At the very minimum, it would still be beneficial to have the property placed into a revocable living trust. A revocable living trust does not protect assets from the state's reach (if your dad went into a nursing home and it was paid for by the state), but it has the benefit of passing to the heirs without going through the hassles, expense, and delay of probate.

If your dad has other assets, like CDs or stocks/bonds, then converting these assets into a "Medicaid-friendly" annuity could provide a great deal of protection should he eventually enter a nursing home.

Talk to an estate planning attorney for more info.

Randy Masters

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Answered on 2/01/05, 12:16 pm


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