Asset Protection and New York Elder Law

Asset protection involves strategies to safeguard your family’s wealth while planning for the possibility that a family member may need long-term care.

Information Gathering

During your Littman Krooks consultation, our attorneys will gather information from you regarding your health, finances and family objectives.

Based on that information, our attorneys will create a plan tailored specifically to you and your situation. We will review the options available to you to finance long-term care in detail. We will also review Medicaid law with you and explain how your assets will be counted for Medicaid eligibility purposes. We will carefully examine any financial transfers affected by the “look-back” period and their impact on you.

Analysis

Based on your individual situation, certain asset protection tools may be applicable, including making use of the right of spousal refusal, disinheriting an ill spouse or commencing a gift-back program.

We will also review the benefits and income to which you will be entitled if you apply for Medicaid benefits. We will carefully examine all Medicaid options and determine the amount of resources you are entitled to retain under Medicaid standards.

Recommendations

The primary objective of our plan is to protect your hard-earned assets. We will also take the income tax consequences, as well as the estate and gift tax consequences, of any recommendations into consideration. We will create a strategy to protect your assets from the costs of long-term care.

Each situation is different, but recommendations may include gifting programs, funding certain trusts or deed transfers. They can also include pre-paid funeral accounts, which spend down your assets and allow you to qualify for Medicaid benefits, or private pay of long-term care through long-term care insurance.

Implementation

Once we have presented the plan with our recommended strategy, we will help you implement it by drafting the appropriate legal documents, completing and submitting a Medicaid application, if appropriate, and working together with you and your other professional advisers.

How a Littman Krooks New York Elder Law Attorney Can Help

An experienced asset protection attorney will:

• Protect assets from estate taxes and the cost of long-term care.
• Assist you with your applications for Medicaid and SSI benefits.
• Recommend asset protection tools, e.g., right of spousal refusal or commencing a gift-back program.
• Analyze tax consequences.
• Draft appropriate legal documents.
• Complete and submit your Medicaid application, if appropriate.