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Medicaid-Compliant Promissory Notes
When the need for long-term care arises, the high costs can quickly drain a family’s savings. Fortunately, Medicaid rules allow certain planning strategies to help protect assets. One option is the use of a Medicaid-compliant promissory note. A promissory note is simply a written promise to repay money over time. To qualify as “Medicaid-compliant,” the… Read more
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Can I Protect Assets from Long Term Care Costs?
Many families worry that a nursing home stay will leave nothing for a spouse or children. The good news is that there are strategies to protect assets. If care isn’t immediately needed, one option is long-term care insurance. Another option is to create an irrevocable Medicaid Asset Protection Trust, which can shelter assets from being… Read more
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Putting: Adjusting Your Approach to the Pin
The short game is as important as the long game. As the saying goes, “drive for show, putt for dough.” Even the best drive (your initial documents) will not get the ball to the pin (planning goals) without a steady hand on the green. Life, like golf, is a game of making adjustments to changing… Read more
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The Drive: Signing the First Set of Documents
In estate planning, signing your initial set of documents, such as a will or trust, is your “drive.” It is your initial shot that moves the ball down the fairway. This “first swing” puts the following key protections in place: naming who will manage your affairs if you can’t, specifying how your assets should be… Read more
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Selecting the Right Club—Estate Planning Tools
Not every shot requires your driver, and not every estate plan needs the same tools. In estate planning, the “clubs” are the tools, such as wills and trusts. Experience is the best teacher. Your “caddy” is your estate planning attorney. The seasoned advisor, helping you evaluate the available estate planning “clubs” and select those that… Read more
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Teeing Up: Get Your Information Together
There is something to be said for not overthinking in golf—or in estate planning. Overthinking can lead to analysis paralysis. In golf, analysis paralysis can lead to freezing up and a case of the “yips.” With estate planning, you can spend so much time agonizing about the initial step that it interferes with the process.… Read more
