Hi. My dad is 83 and still lives at home alone. His home is in a living trust so it is protected. He only has one vehicle. He makes about $2,000 a month in Social Security. He makes enough to pay his monthly bills, food, gas, and Dr. co-pays. He has had back surgery, has diabetes, and walks with a walker. He seems to always have a wound under the care of a home healthcare worker who comes by once or twice a week to check on it and change bandages. He also has to wear a compression stockings which he cannot put on and takeoff by himself. In the future, within six months, have to move in with my brother and SIL. He has about $100,000 in a mutual fund that he makes about $300 a month off of the interest. we can protect this money from nursing homes he had to go to one within the next year? The house is protected and a living trust specifically made to protect the home. Also, can he gift $13,000 each year to his daughter, son, and their spouses without any ramifications from Medicaid if the time comes? And if he does go to live with my brother and SIL is there anyway for them to get paid for anything for being caregivers? We all take so much time away from work, and our businesses taking care of things for dad that our businesses are suffering financially. I know a lot of questions. I hope you guys have some answers. Thank you.
He saved that money to pay for his care and comfort in his old age. Now he should spend it on himself for good care.
Yes, he can privately pay anyone to care for him but he needs to have a written contract for sure (even for family members). If he is tempted to pay for caregiving in cash, please know that Medicaid asks for copies of bank statements and may require an explanation (or receipts) for where that cash went.
If he pays someone privately to care for him, this makes him an employer. This means he has to do wage withholding and quarterly reporting, and submit a W2 for this employee at the end of every year.
I personally would not move him into a private home but everyone needs to make their own decision on this. There are some very great facilities that have activities, events and great staff, and my MIL is in one, in LTC on Medicaid (she even has a private room). It's close to our house and the staff is amazing. They get her out of her room every day and she jokes around with them.
Your Dad will get so much more social exposure in a good facility. Plus, he may qualify for LTC, which in most states is what Medicaid covers (it doesn't cover AL or MC in the vast majority of states). If he takes this path, he should pick a good facility and go in on private pay. Make sure they have Medicaid beds and a continuum of care (like MC and LTC, hospice). Once he needs and qualifies for Medicaid, he will get first dibs since he is already a resident there. Outsiders can often be on waiting lists for Medicaid beds.
Is anyone the PoA for your Dad? If not, this is a dealbreaker for providing his care. He needs to assign someone who is at least 1 generation younger than himself, who is willing and able and local to him. The FPoA needs to read the document to see when the authority is active and needs to meet with an elder law attorney to learn what kind of record-keeping and boundaries there are in managing your Dad's finances. Then also meet with a Medicaid Planner for his home state so that he and the PoA don't accidentally mismanage his funds in the eyes of Medicaid.
In my state you can have an attorney draw up a PCA agreement where family members get paid, OUT OF THE PATIENT'S MONEY to care for the patient. Under the agreement my family has, it is the family member's responsibility to claim the income on their taxes. When the patient runs out of money, some states will allow family members to be paid for care out of state money.
If your hire someone outside of the PCA agreement, then you will have to do what Geaton said, withhold taxes, social security, etc. You need an attorney and you need to know what the laws are in your state.
His home is protected in that he can have a home and car and still receive Medicaid, but this income in not protected and his home will face "clawback" by the government after his death. A living trust is a "revocable trust" still within the control of the trustor (your Dad) who created it. That means the funds in the trust that are liquid (not a home) will be spent for his care.
You are attempting to do something illegal if you are attempting to preserve your fathers funds for YOU while he receives minimal care from Medicaid. Your father's assets should stand to provide decent care for his last years.
If your father is moving in with family then they need to see an attorney to work out a shared living costs contract with Dad so that Dad can pay his share of mortgage or rental, food costs, utitlites with them.
In short, you need an ATTORNEY, not the collected, often differing opinions of a Forum of caregivers.
Seek advice of a good elder law attorney regarding ALL these questions. He will tell you what funds can be protected, and how to create a fair contract with his son and dil.
I managed my parents nest egg with a fine tooth comb to prevent the need for Medicaid to manage their care. Dad didn't work as hard as he did to wind up sharing a room and a toilet with someone blasting a television set 24/7.
You are spending way too much time during the work day attending to your dad. 15 calls/texts a day? Time to silence your phone. If he has an emergency, he needs to call 911. His other non-emergency needs will have to wait.
While waiting to move in to your brother's, I would have him hire and pay for some aides so you and your siblings can be freed up. Yes, your jobs, businesses, spouses and children need to come first. You can help your dad but not at the expense of everything else.
If you and your siblings are going to take gifted money to try to shelter it from Medicaid, I would suggest putting it into a separate account until the medicaid look back period has expired. Otherwise, it could be very difficult to come up with that amount of money when medicaid demands it.
Do your brother and SIL really know what they're getting themselves into? Do they have room for dad? Are they willing to hire caregivers? When my mom lived with us, I started with a cleaning lady when mom could no longer keep her room and bathroom clean. There was a 3 hour minimum and they did her stuff first and then worked on the common areas. Then I started adding caregivers, telling mom it was for ME. So I could go out and not worry about what was going on at home. An elder with mild dementia at home alone for hours on end is not a great idea and I was not comfortable with it.
Do you or any other family members plan on giving your brother respite care relief? Having dad live with them could be difficult even if his needs are not too large at this point. My sister would take my mom for a weekend about once a month until her condition got worse. It was very helpful but was also only a spit in the bucket cuz you're right back into the same crap different day when she returned.
Best of luck.
The only gifting he can do is set up irrevocable funeral trusts for his children and children’s spouses. Not much of a gift but that can be done.
Even though IRS allows 17k a year to gift money, Medicaid does not allow it. I think that having a talk with a Medicaid caseworker would be a good thing. Each State is a little different.