Last Week, I met with a mother and her daughter in Metairie to discuss the best way to protect Mom’s assets from a nursing home. Dad died 2 years earlier after a battle with cancer and Mom inherited a stock account worth about $150,000 and all the rights to the family home from Dad. Mom had recently been diagnosed with the early stages of Parkinson’s disease. The family was worried that as mom’s condition worsened, she would be forced into a nursing home, and the family wanted to do whatever they could to avoid spending all of the money mom had received from Dad’s estate. They knew that if Mom was forced into a nursing home, she would be forced to sell her stocks and spend down about $6,000 each month on the cost of the nursing home, and there was a risk that the Nursing Home would force a sale of the family home at mom’s death.
To protect mom’s house and stock and make sure she kept receiving her dividends on the stock, we created a special type of trust that will allow Mom to stay in control of her stock account, continue to receive dividends, avoid a drawn out probate procedure at Mom’s death, and most importantly, shelter Mom’s home stock from Nursing home spend down by allowing Mom to qualify for aid to pay for her long term care 5 years from when she sets up the trust.
With this trust, Mom will not be forced to come out of pocket and wipe her life savings on the nursing home and all of the money is protected for her children. To learn more about these trusts you can call me at (504) 274-1980 in the Metairie New Orleans area or (985) 246-3020 in Mandeville, Covington, Slidell, Houma, Thibodaux, and surrounding areas. You can also attend any of the free live events featured on this website to learn more about protecting your estate in a fun and interactive setting!