1 .        MYTH: You have to give away everything you own to qualify for the Medicaid benefit.

Truth: Basically, a married or single person is permitted to own some property. Married couples are treated differently in Michigan. There are "countable" assets you are entitled to preserve.

2.       MYTH: You must wait 5 years after giving anything away, to qualify to receive Medicaid benefit.

Truth: The penalty isn’t always 5 years, and sometimes there is no penalty at all. True, as of 2006 there is 5 year “look back” for some asset transfers.

3.        MYTH: Gifts can be made within the IRS guidelines and will not affect the five year look back should Mom or Dad need nursing home care.

Truth: Medicaid and the IRS are completely different when it comes to "gifting". The IRS does allow gifts to be made each year, however. MEDICAID DOES NOT. 

MYTHS and the TRUTHS continued

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Jean Sztajer hired attorney Clark Stojan to draft a living trust. The trust named her three children as successor co-trustees. After Ms. Sztajer was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, she executed a special power of attorney that gave her daughter the power to act as trustee in her place. Mr. Stojan helped Ms. Sztajer amend the trust to name her daughter as successor trustee and her sons as second successor trustees. A doctor found Ms. Sztajer competent to make life decisions two months after the amendment. Ms. Sztajer's sons, Bret and Sean Johnson, began questioning distributions from the trust and complained to the Illinois Department of Aging, but no misconduct was found.

Don't you wonder what these boys were like as kids? But there's more to this story