Heroic Caregiver

Recently, I had a client come into my office, and it was one of those situations that I know you all have seen. This gentleman came in, his daughter and son-in-law accompanied him. He had been the heroic caregiver. He was caring for his wife, and they were concerned that he literally was caregiving himself to death. She desperately needed care. He had been told horror stories about how he was about to lose everything, be destitute, and have nothing for himself to live on. So, I reassured them very quickly, early in the appointment, that things were going to be okay. Then I set about proving it to them.

Turning Countable Assets into Exempt Assets

First, they had spoken to someone who said, “Oh, not a big deal, I'll do the Medicaid application.” That person was well meaning, but this was about so much more than doing a Medicaid application. I had to sit down and dig out the facts.

What I found was that in what appeared to be a significant spenddown, we could accomplish a much smaller spenddown by doing a couple of things. This was a Kansas case; they had a child living in a residence next door. The child was not paying any rent, but the child could pay rent. So, we went ahead and prepared a rental agreement. That immediately took that property from a countable piece of real estate to an exempt piece of real estate.

Next, they had a lake house. He wanted later to move into that lake house and have that be his residence. The lake house, which, by the way, wasn't worth a whole lot, was important to the family. Right now, the lake house was also going to be a countable resource. So, what do we do? We're going to put the lake house on the market, we're going to show evidence that it's for sale, list it with a realtor, put a for sale sign in the yard, and suddenly, that lake house in Kansas is no longer countable. Then we were able to exempt his IRA, not a large IRA, but it all makes a difference.

More Than Just a Simple Medicaid Application

And so, what would have been a great big spenddown of maybe $100,000 - $125,000, which was going to terrify him, turns out to be a spend down of only about $20,000 to $25,000. He was amazed. Beyond that, he now felt good, because he also understands he's going to get to keep his income, and the cost of the care center is only going to be about $600 per month, a whole lot less than the $8,500 per month he was told it was going to take, to care for her. Now we have a situation where he won't caregive himself to death. He's going to place her to get her the care she needs while taking care of himself. Boy, were the kids thrilled. Boy, was he thrilled, too.

There was so much more than a Medicaid application. A good elder law attorney knows there's so much more to this process. And kudos to the referral source who sent that family over here. They'll never know, but they may just have saved a life. Thanks so much. Have a great July 4th weekend!