Dad had a stroke in November 2016, in July of 2017 we moved the home where mom and dad live in revocable trust. Dad has a living will and POA which is shared by me and a sibling. In 2017 dad had ~$230K in Roth IRA in addition he receives ~$5000 in his pension and SSA benefits. Now he has ~$70K with the same funding from his pension and SSA.
Trusts IMO by & large aren’t about Medicaid estate planning.
Thats it’s revocable is exactly as sjp posted, they still r in complete control of it and can move it out from Trust status manana if they wanted to. Revocable has no Medicaid protection. So p if the attorney who did this in any way told you it was good for Medicaid, well, don’t go back to that attorney….
For LTC Medicaid (in a facility Medicaid) you basically need to be impoverished, that is with 2k max in assets (a home & a car are exempt assets is they are under whatever your state places as a max value on those type of assets, like 550k on a home) AND within mo income limits which tend to be $2100-2200@ mo. Your dad has 70k in assets plus more than double the monthly income max amount.
I don’t see him being eligible as he is not at impoverishment level….yet.
Your mom as a CS aka community spouse can have her own separate assets - tend to be 128k for most states- & her own income is not a factor for his impoverishment if it’s under a certain range (this one is a moving target as it seems to be based on annual COL & the CS can factor in their own extraordinary health care costs which see to be abt medication costs). Your Mom if she can document that she actually needs some of his income each month to make ends meet can file as to have some of his monthly income waived to go to her (instead of the required to be paid to the facility as his copay) as her own resource allowance. This is called a CSRA or MMNA.
Personally I think they work best if it’s the situation that it’s a May / Dec marriage so current non working wife is decades younger, so she can do a SPIA from their assets to boost her income but still keep it low enough she she needs all of his AND they actually still have dependent kids and a mortgage and car note. So lil Missy could get all his income waived to her as she need it all. It’s not ever a DIY; it’s MedicAID savvy atty who deals with CS / NH spouse stuff and does it way ahead ever applying for LTC Medicaid as Medicaid does a snap shot day that affixes all financials to the date of the application.
btw I hate hate annuities, but a SPIA is a very unique annuity good for a much younger spouse. It’s speciality underwriting w just a few who do these. If your mom is dads contemporary, the #s can’t work. The CS needs to be in their 40’s or maybe 50’s.
to me it says the house is protected until your mother also passes, however your dad's income and his savings aren't going to all be saved for your mother. She may be eligible for SOME support of his pension and perhaps $100-130K of his savings.
I think you should see an attorney asap!
A revocable trust is not exempt from Medicaid recovery because your dad still has control of it and access to it, so it didn't do any good to put the house in the trust for Medicaid protection. However, there are other Medicaid rules that do protect the house. Contact an elder care attorney for help.
An IRrevocable trust does protect one from Medicaid recovery if it was done beyond the Medicaid lookback period.
Is Mom still alive? I think you will need to consult with a lawyer versed in Medicaid.
Not sure why you would want Dad on Medicaid when it seems he has enough money to be placed in a nice AL or LTC paying privately. Medicaid is for people who have no money.