Best Real Estate Lawyers in Allentown, PA

How to protect your assets from rising nursing home costs? An Asset Protection Trust, of course. An asset protection trust, is an irrevocable trust that protects the assets transferred to it from counting as resources for Medicaid qualification purposes. When the Trust is signed, a new legal entity is created. It is very important that when the Trust is created, assets are transferred into the name of the Trust. The transfers made into the Trust are subject to a 60-month lookback (5 years) period for Medicaid eligibility purposes. Therefore, depending upon the amount of assets used to fund your Irrevocable Trust and other factors relating to Medicaid eligibility as required by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and Pennsylvania law, you might not qualify for Medicaid benefits for a full 60 months after the month in which your Irrevocable Trust is funded. Generally, real estate, certificates of deposit, checking accounts, savings accounts, non-qualified annuities, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, money market accounts and life insurance can be transferred. The only asset that really should not be transferred to the trust would be any qualified funds, such as, IR As, or 401 Ks because there would be income tax consequences and those accounts must be held in the name of the individual who created the account. Call us today for more information on how an Asset Protection Trust may be right for you and your family.