It is important to plan for incapacity BEFORE it strikes. We will work with you to choose a person to make your financial decisions, healthcare choices, and manage your assets. This will give you flexibility and security when you need it most. If you put off incapacity planning, it will likely result in a Judge deciding who is responsible for your asset and care through a public guardianship and conservatorship proceeding… and you may not like who is chosen.

There are three options to pay for long-term care: (1) be extremely wealthy and pay for it out-of-pocket at a cost of nearly $10,000 per month, (2) obtain long-term care insurance and try to ensure enough coverage to outlast your stay, or (3) try to qualify for Medicaid coverage.

Most of our work is to help our clients qualify for Medicaid coverage. Medicaid’s rules vary by state and we are experienced at working with clients to qualify them for Medicaid. The rules require the family member needing long-term care to have $2,000 or less of assets (there are some limited exceptions) and if they are married, the “Community Spouse” (the one not needing long-term care) also has asset limits. We work with clients to minimize the assets Medicaid counts for qualifying. There are two ways we do this.

First, if we are planning well in advance, we can protect assets from Medicaid. This type of planning should be done five or more years before you need long-term care because Medicaid has a rule called the five-year look back rule. Any assets you transfer control over without adequate value during the look-back period can create a period of disqualification where you would have to pay for care during this time out-of-pocket. If the advance planning is done early enough, there are no penalties.

Second, if we are too late to do advance planning, then we are creating an emergency Medicaid plan. Medicaid’s rules focus on the value of assets and so we use Medicaid qualified annuities to turn assets into an income source. While protection of assets is still possible and, in most cases, should be done to preserve assets for your family, the broadest protection comes with advance planning.

While protection of your loved one and their assets during lifetime is important, it is also important to create an estate plan while there is still capacity to do so. Having an estate plan in place will save your family time, money and anguish – you will provide the directions of what should happen at your death, not leaving them to sort it out. Your assets will go where you want, not according to what the State of Wyoming thinks is best.