In our state, this wouldn’t be the case.
The spouse could keep close to 100,000 dollars in liquid assets (her 401K could be cashed in and transferred into his name), plus the car and house (her name must be off the title) and his wife would still qualify for Medicaid nursing home care. They guy needs to talk to an elder care lawyer, there are also ways of setting up trusts to care for the sick without bankrupting the family. In recent years there has been legislation that allowed more assets to be kept because they found that some folks were “bankrupting” themselves to go into rehab, but then they recovered and when they came out, they had no assets left to live on...thus the laws about the “well” spouse being able to keep liquid assets plus house and car without having to pay down that amount.
As one who has spent twenty years in accounting in health care, your suggestion is right on the money, so to speak.
Carolyn
Agreed,
I think this guy needs to talk to a better lawyer, this letter smells fishy to me. Elders “hide” millions in assets so they can receive care etc, I suspect that 1) this guy needs a better/different lawyer or 2) this entire thing is a set up by activists and isn’t a real letter at all.