OT October Chit Chat

[Howie]

It was "make pasta day". I don't know if I can do that anymore. It's only 57 outside, but I am sweating, and I don't do heat well. It seemed harder to do this time. But I finished, the pasta is simmering, the kitchen is clean, and I'll eat in a few hours. Whew!

[agate]

I've got into the habit of leaving the kitchen if the stove is heating things up, even if it's something boiling for only a few minutes on top of the stove. I might go into another room and open a window or turn on a fan if it's too bad. I don't know about other people but sometimes cooler air coming at me for just a short time works wonders.

(See, Howie--we have answers for you. This is the Answer Place. We're not going to let you stop making pasta.)

[Howie]

We're not going to let you stop making pasta.)

Yeah, I was delirious when I typed that. I love pasta!

[SuzE-Q]

Agate, important though to set a timer, as the last time I left the kitchen, I forgot and left a pot to boil dry. Completely ruined the pot.

Now I set a timer so I have a reminder to return if I leave the kitchen. Too easy to get busy with something else and completely forget what I was doing.

[agate]

I agree--a timer is an absolute must. I have two of them in the kitchen and often use both of them.

[Cherie]

Goodness, but it seems a lot has happened since I last visited.

Howie,
Accident! Yow! Sorry. Is the cruiser's mirror OK?

ANN,
Yes, Deidre did have that. She is still active on facebook and very active in the Island (a break off from Ian's forum Plain Talk) and she's doing pretty well from all reports. She is living near mom in TX and Gus is grown and Lauren is now driving (those little kids are almost grown and flown). I am sure she would talk to you about this if you reached out.

Not sleeping well. Am almost completely off Ativan. Last dose 1/2 mg) was three days ago. Last night I finally took a half a Halcion at 2am because I could not sleep. Travel is wringing me out, altho' I don't want to let on and worry David by telling him this. I feel like I am on the home stretch now with only 5 days away next week and then done for the year. It feels like what I am doing is important and has an impact but , Lordy, I'm getting old and tired. We met with financial planner today and David has agreed to give him most of his retirement account to manage to save from losses. (Dave has lost $130,000 in the last 4 weeks by his investments in the stock market and I was not aware till it was gone and the market continues to fall). Tomorrow we meet with our attorney and an elder care attorney to potentially put our properties in an irrevocable trust that long term care cannot go after should one of us need to go into a nursing home. Not what we wanted but I think, given recent developments, that we need to do to protect things for the kids and grandkids and keep things safe from use by someone who is forgetting the details of what happened last week.

[renee]

Caramelized onion cheddar at T. Joe's. Damn, I was there yesterday; how did I miss it!?

[Sunshine]

Cherie,Our properties and accounts are all in the name of irrevocable trust. I was not aware that if your assets are in that type of trust, that nursing homes can’t touch it. Are you sure of that?

I am so sorry you were going through all of this. With respect to the work travel, you will know when you are at the breaking point and can no longer do it, and have to give up having an impact and such a large way. I went through the same thing. It is a very hard loss.

[Cherie]

Estate attorney confirmed that Irrevocable trust is the only way to protect from 5 year look back period and being attached for nursing home expenses. Trouble with irrevocable is that you don't have a say over much of what is done with the assets and can't draw $ out if or when it is needed. I also found out that IRA is not attachable by a nursing home unless it is the income you are taking from the account.

[Howie]

Cherie, no damage to the Cruiser. My mirror grazed his truck just enough to leave a black mark. My mirrors are black plastic. Oh well, my insurance is covering it.

[Sunshine]

Cherie, I was mistaken . I meant Revocable Trust.

For people who are interested in revocable trusts versus a will,

This shows five ways revocable trusts are better than wills
Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

[Sunshine]

Found this link about being disabled and isolated

Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

[Virginia]

Cherie, sorry you have so many things going on at one time. You are telling me some financial things I did not know, such as income from IRA. Well, actually if I had thought of it I guess I would have known it, since I assume all income is attachable if you have to go into nursing home.

For single person like me, what about the home I live in, which is paid for. Can nursing home take that? I have heard yes and I have heard no. What do you know?

Have thought of doing irrevocable trust, but most of what I have has already gone into an income producing account, that I no longer have control over. Hate to give up control of everything else. Not that there is that much, other than the house. Also, suppose I did do an irrevocable trust and then later wanted to sell my house and go to an apartment, could I do that?

Glad you are having a small break before you start over next week.

Hi Renee, so good to see you - guess the smell of caramelized onion and cheddar brought you out.

[Cherie]

Cherie, sorry you have so many things going on at one time. You are telling me some financial things I did not know, such as income from IRA. Well, actually if I had thought of it I guess I would have known it, since I assume all income is attachable if you have to go into nursing home.

For single person like me, what about the home I live in, which is paid for. Can nursing home take that? I have heard yes and I have heard no. What do you know?

Have thought of doing irrevocable trust, but most of what I have has already gone into an income producing account, that I no longer have control over. Hate to give up control of everything else. Not that there is that much, other than the house. Also, suppose I did do an irrevocable trust and then later wanted to sell my house and go to an apartment, could I do that?

:

As I understand it, if you are the only resident of a home you own and you go on Medicaid, the nursing home takes your social security check as well as any other income stream like a pension or withdrawals from your IRA and leaves you a $50 stipend each month to get hair done or go out to eat or purchase clothing that needs replacing. They can also put a lien against your home so that when you die, the estate must reimburse them. On average nursing home care costs $9,000/month now or just about $110,000 each year. (we got all of this information from the Estate attorney this morning)

Revocable trust works like an enhanced will but if you need long term care everything in the Revocable Trust can be attached by the facility to cover your care. Also , anything in the Revocable trust has the 5 year look back rule meaning anything that has not been in it for at least 5 years when you go on Medicaid to cover your nursing home care, is attached by the nursing home to cover your care and can be sold to cover that cost.

In an Irrevocable Trust, you place property or monies that you no longer have access to in order to protect said assets from being used for your care. The trust is managed by a Trustee and not you. All bills on property in the Trust are paid by the Trustee. If the property is a rental property rents go into the Trust. Each month the Trustee reconciles income versus expenses and writes you a check from the net monies to help with expenses. The money you get from the trust is considered income and can be taken by the Nursing Home to cover the cost of your care. However, if you do not need the income stream from rental properties in the Trust, it can safely stay there.

In our situation where there are two of us, the primary residence cannot be touched by the nursing home (unlike if you are single and own the property in which case they can attach it). Liquid Assets such as bank accounts are divided in two and you get to keep half untouchable while your partner resides in a nursing home. The half designated to your partner can be spent down to cover their care. If the partner dies while in the nursing home, you own the house free and clear. At that point, however, it may make sense to sell it and downsize or place it in the irrevocable trust to protect it for heirs.

A property can be sold while in an irrevocable trust and the trust can then purchase a smaller property but you will not own it. The Trust does.

I don't know if any of this makes sense to you. If not, ask specific questions and I will try and answer.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Cherie)))))) ~

I'm so sorry for all that you and Dave are going through. You're on the go so much, I can imagine that it is getting tiresome for you these days.

I have one question about the nursing home/irrevocable trust: Do you think that it's possible for the government to make this more complicated and confusing?

We need to develop a Special Needs Trust for Jonathan, and the entirety of it overwhelms me. And I used to be rather adept at grasping legal stuff. I wonder if we'll also have to address having an irrevocable trust. Ugh, we should have done this years ago, when Jim and I had more brain cells.

Thank you for the information.

Love & Light,



Rose