If you or anyone you know is currently faced with the catastrophic costs of custodial care, or if you are merely concerned for the future, please send your questions to the e-mail address listed below. Responses to your questions are FREE, and may direct you on the right path to preserving a lifetime of savings. Or if you prefer, call us and request a free twenty minute phone consultation. Most people currently paying for nursing home costs are paying too much!

By the narrowest of margins, Congress passed a budget plan designed to save the federal budget 40 billion dollars over the succeeding five years. Former President Bush signed this bill (named the Deficit Reduction Act) into law on February 8, 2006.  Unfortunately, the effect of the law has been to severely threaten our nation's most vulnerable older adults and individuals with disabilities who need long-term care.

To be eligible for Ohio Medicaid, an individual must be an Ohio resident and either 65 years of age, blind or disabled.

Qualifying for Ohio Medicaid coverage of nursing home expenses is a detailed, time-consuming process. Each and every unnecessary day of private payment caused by inaccuracy or inefficiency in this process will cause unreimbursed expense of $220-$300.

Gifting may be the least beneficial of planning strategies, and because of the myriad of penalties, as well as adverse tax and liability consequences, should be done only upon the direction of an experienced advisor.

The term Medicaid annuity denotes a type of account that may permit a conversion of countable assets into a private pension for the individual at home or in the nursing home. 

Medicaid spend-down applies when an individual or a couple have countable resources in excess of the eligibility limits. Before the individual or couple will be entitled to Ohio Medicaid assistance, the excess resources must be expended in some permissible manner. Most expenditures, other than gifts, will qualify for this purpose.

Federal medicaid law requires participating states to seek recovery from a medicaid recipient's estate for medical assistance consisting of nursing facility services, home and community-based services, and related hospital and prescription drug services. 

People often wonder about the value of using irrevocable trusts in Medicaid planning. Certainly gifting of assets can be done outright, not involving an irrevocable trust. Outright gifts have the advantages of being simple to do with minimal costs involved, including the cost of preparing and recording deeds and the cost of preparing and filing a gift tax return. Many financial institutions have their own documents they use for changing ownership of assets so there are typically no out-of-pocket costs for the transferor

All of the Attorneys at Daniel P. Seink Co. are accredited by The Department of Veterans Affairs to prepare, present and prosecute claims for veteran’s benefits before the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).