Joint bank accounts are usually done as a means of DIY Estate Planning. The adult child places themselves on the parents account as a technique to avoid Probate. Unfortunately, from a Medicaid standpoint this invalidates the gifting prohibition because the Medicaid applicant “gifted” half of the account to the adult child. This would need to be undone, meaning the adult child removed from the account, and then a true Medicaid strategy employed for the cash in the account.

Personal Injury settlements could be a little difficult. The difficulty is that while the IRS does not recognize the settlement for tax purposes as income, Medicaid does recognize it as an asset. The most convenient planning technique is to create a Special Needs Trust for the Personal Injury Settlement. I handle about three to four SNT’s per month for clients receiving a personal injury settlement that are on SSI or Medicaid. A Special Needs Trust is a unique irrevocable tru

Rental Property is a common issue with Medicaid Planning. Some applicants may have a rental property. Medicaid does not treat the property itself as an asset, only the income from the net rental amounts. This means the gross rent, minus the HOA, mortgage and any other costs is then counted as income for the applicant. The purchase of a rental property is also a Medicaid Strategy in that a countable asset as money, is transferred into a non countable asset as a rental home. Th

What exactly is exempt from Medicaid as a countable asset? The answer is really quite simple: anything that is a non-countable asset is then a countable asset. I am not trying to be funny or clever, but it is easier is to define all assets as countable, except for the non-countable. So what does Medicaid consider as non-countable. Well, essentially it is critical assets of your life that you need in order to survive, such as your home, car, and retirement monies. Pre Paid Bur