In this Elder Law Minute, Wes Coulson, Illinois and Missouri Elder Law attorney, discusses how having an adult disabled child changes your options for Medicaid eligibility planning.
Transcript:
Hi, I’m Wes Coulson from Dent-Coulson Elder Law, proudly serving clients throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area and region from our offices in O’Fallon, IL and in St. Louis across from Westport Plaza. One of the questions that we have on our elder law planning questionnaire asks whether the person who needs care has a disabled adult child. Now, people have asked, “why do you ask that? Why do you care about that?” The reason that we care about that is that in terms of Medicaid eligibility planning, it opens up a very significant and very helpful planning opportunity. If the applicant has a child who has been determined disabled by the Social Security Administration, so that could be either for supplement security income (SSI) or for social security disability (SSD,) transfers of assets to or for the benefit of that adult disabled child are not subject to the transfer penalty provisions that would otherwise cause a delay in eligibility if those same gifts were made to someone else.
We need to be very careful about it because we want to make sure, particularly in the case of somebody who is on SSI, that things are setup in a way that it doesn’t interfere with the disabled child’s own eligibility. And, we want to do it in a way that keeps control so that it’s not just the one child who is benefiting so that down the road other members of the family can benefit. But nevertheless, it’s a really important planning opportunity that allows us to be able to do great things in the situation in which it applies.
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Dent-Coulson Elder Law is dedicated to providing families in the St. Louis area with their Elder Law needs. Our practice areas include Asset Preservation Planning, Veterans Benefits, Medicaid Eligibility, Alzheimer’s Planning, Special Needs Planning, Estate Planning and more. We understand the financial challenges you may face as you and your loved ones grow older. At Dent-Coulson Elder Law, our clients’ well-being is our number one priority. For immediate help, call (618) 632-7000 or (314) 567-9292, or Contact Us and we will get in touch as soon as possible.
