What should I transfer into a Medicaid trust?

On Behalf of | Mar 11, 2021 | Estate Planning |

Having Medicare and Medicaid can be an ideal way to ensure you have maximum insurance coverage. However, Medicaid is an income-based service. You must qualify by coming in under income thresholds.

When figuring your eligibility, the state will consider your assets along with any income. There are ways to reduce your assets so that you can ensure you qualify, which you will want to do if possible because it can save you a lot of money on medical care.

Medicaid trust

One common way people will reduce their assets to qualify for Medicaid, according to the Times Reporter, is to create a Medicaid trust. The trust holds your assets, which become the property of the trust and no longer your property. Since the property is not yours, the state will not count it when figuring your income.

Do note that there is a look back period Medicaid uses. This means the state can look back at assets you owned in the years prior to your application. You should note the look-back period and ensure you set up the trust well ahead of time that you get full trust protection.

Items in the trust

You can put any asset you want in a trust, but you should think about it carefully. Remember that you will not own or control the asset once you put it in the trust. This could be problematic if you need to sell the asset in the future or if you want to have control over it because it is under the control of a trustee.

Items you can put in the trust include bank accounts, real estate, life insurance policies and investments. You will want to put enough assets in the trust to reduce your income enough to qualify for Medicaid.

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