What You Need to Know About Medicaid And Partners Entering Relationships with Different Assets

Getting married later in life raises a number of different confusing aspects associated with estate planning. An estate planning attorney might be the only person who can help you navigate the legal maze of health care and estate plans. If one party enters this late in life marriage with significant assets whereas the other does not, this can cause major issues when qualifying for Medicaid.

For example, if the wife in the marriage has ample assets when entering but the male partner does not have as many, Medicaid will evaluate the couple’s assets overall. Older adults face unique estate planning concerns such as guardianship, probate estate planning and Medicaid.

When you get remarried, you need to update your estate planning materials anyways because your estate planning tools can affect your children from previous marriages. However, you must also factor in Medicaid.

If you do not have long term care insurance policies, you essentially might be self-insuring yourself and a spouse. This is because Medicaid will look at all of the couple’s assets in determining whether or not if a person who needs assistance will qualify through Medicaid. A wife who brings in a great deal of assets to the marriage might have to use her own assets and spend down in order to pay for the care needed for a partner unless other financial plans, such as the purchase of a long-term care policy has been made.

Legal documentation is essential when it comes to Medicaid planning, and the further in advance you can show that this work has been done, the easier it will be to accomplish your various concerns and goals. Medicaid can be very complicated, but the support of an attorney is instrumental in outlining what you do and don’t need.

Don’t hesitate to schedule a consultation with an attorney who is highly knowledgeable about best protecting your interests.