Houston Elder Law Attorneys

Elder Law is a crucial area of legal practice that focuses on planning for the future.

By working with an experienced Houston elder law attorney, you can establish a plan for aging that preserves your financial reserves and protects your autonomy.

Feel more prepared for what your future may hold by speaking with one of the elder law attorneys at SMC, ESQ PLLC.

The Houston elder law attorneys at Shann M. Chaudhry Esq., Attorney at Law, PLLC can help with the planning stages of growing older to ensure your assets are protected and your wishes are granted.

Long-term care planning is a concept that encompasses health care decisions that come with age, like choosing an assisted living facility, but it goes beyond that. In reality, long-term care can cover all of your future needs that may require financial input. It’s vital to know all of your options for care and make your wishes known. This may include steps such as:

• Asset protection
• Creating trusts to fund care
• Creating life estates
• Disability planning
• Reviewing admissions contracts and agreements with care facilities

While these topics aren’t lighthearted, it’s far better to have clear, transparent conversations now than to leave them to your loved ones to sort out once a crisis is already at hand.

If someone has a physical or mental illness, a special needs trust allows them to receive income without losing their eligibility for the public benefits that help cover the cost of their care.

Self-funded special needs trusts

Self-funded special needs trusts may be funded by:

• Gifts
• Inheritance
• Settlements
• More

These trusts hold money that already belongs to a physically or mentally ill beneficiary, without the beneficiary holding the funds outright in their name. However, these trusts are created by someone other than the beneficiary, such as a family member or legal guardian.

Third-party-funded special needs trusts

Parents of children with disabilities often use these types of trusts. Third-party-funded special needs trusts must be funded by someone other than the beneficiary, such as a parent or guardian. They supplement government benefits and can be used for almost anything a beneficiary needs.

Collecting Social Security benefits or other retirement income can sometimes disqualify older adults from Medicaid. This can be avoided by creating a Miller Trust, also known as a qualified income trust. With such a trust in place, any income that exceeds a certain threshold gets redirected from your checking account to the trust account.

By creating a Miller Trust you will be able to receive your Social Security benefits while still qualifying for Medicaid in Houston, Texas.

If you own a noteworthy amount of real property in Houston, Texas, a Lady Bird Deed could be useful in your estate planning process. 

A Lady Bird Deed allows the grantor to transfer real property, such as land, to another person (the remainderman). Once the deed is signed, the remainderman will legally own the property. However, you’ll retain the rights to: 

• Live on and/or use the property 
• Lease the property 
• Mortgage the property 
• Sell the property

It is important to note that while the remainderman will retain control of the property when you pass away, you will not need their permission to do these things during your lifetime. 

Many people face confusion when trying to restructure or redistribute their finances in order to ensure Medicaid eligibility. Individuals often assume that giving away or selling assets is helpful to qualify for Medicaid in order to reduce their net worth. However, in Houston, Texas, the Medicaid application process includes a 60-month lookback period, which means that the state will consider all asset transfers made during this time and can temporarily disqualify you from the program based on unusually large transfers that aim to circumvent the system.

That being said, the transfer or restructuring of assets may not even be necessary thanks to benefits planning. This system makes it possible for many older adults to qualify for Medicaid even with large assets still in your name.

At the law firm of Shann M. Chaudhry Esq., Attorney at Law PLLC, we ask questions to create a comprehensive legal plan that both maintains your eligibility for Medicaid and works towards your goals, health needs, financial well-being, and family situation. Contact us to start planning for your future today.

For individuals whose assets surpass the Medicaid threshold, a Medicaid assets protection trust (MAPT) may be a viable option. These trusts effectively eliminate the assets placed within it from your individual income, and are instead ascribed to the trust itself, removing them from the pool where Medicaid is considered.

It’s worth mentioning that the person who creates a MAPT cannot be the beneficiary of the trust. That being said, there’s still significant value in utilizing a MAPT to protect assets for your loved ones.