Attorney Thomas B. Burton discusses the 5 year Medicaid look back period for gifts and transfers made five years before an applicant applies for Medicaid and discusses what happens when a gift or transfer of assets is made within this 5 year period.
Transcript of Video: What is the 5 Year Look Back Period for Medicaid Planning
Today's question what is the five-year
look-back rule for Medicaid planning if
you've looked into doing Medicaid
planning and perhaps seen in the
literature references to the five-year
look-back rule what this is talking
about is any planning you do must be
done five years ahead of the time when
you need to apply for Medicaid
assistance so for instance let's say you
want to give some property the family
cabin to your children now and get it
out of your name out of your estate if
you were to need to qualify for Medicaid
within five years that would be
considered a divestment and counted
against you what I mean is if you gave
the cabin away today and three years
from now you needed Medicaid assistance
Medicaid would look back five years and
see that you gave away that family cabin
let's say it's worth $150,000 to your
two children they would then apply that
$150,000 gift as a penalty and make you
wait an applicable period the penalty
period calculated according to the amount
of the gift and how long ago you gave it
until you could receive Medicaid
assistance from the state so when you
hear about the five-year look-back rule
for asset transfers it's dealing with
five years before the date you'd submit
your Medicaid application if you're
looking at doing Medicaid planning I
recommend you consult with a qualified
estate planning and Medicaid planning
attorney to go through all your options
before you would consider and implement
any of this type of planning it's very
fact-intensive and it's best to involve
the services of a knowledgeable lawyer
to make sure you do it correctly and not
do something you would later regret
great question and thanks for asking.
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Transcript and captions provided for ease of access for the hearing impaired.
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