Agenda

1. Qualifying for Medicaid: Eligibility Criteria

   1. Top Misconceptions on What Medicaid and Medicare Cover
   2. Who Actually Needs Medicaid?
   3. Quality of Care and Patient Protections Concerns
   4. Is it Too Late to Plan for Medicaid Once You're in the Nursing Home?
   5. Medicaid Criteria
      1. Medical Eligibility
      2. Resource Eligibility
      3. Income Eligibility
      4. The Lookback Rule
      5. The Gifting Rule
   6. Transfer Eligibility
   7. Myths About Medicaid Estate Recovery

2. Planning Ahead: Gifts, Exempt Purchases and Asset Transfers

   1. Purchasing Excluded Assets
   2. Converting to Excluded Assets
   3. Prepaying for Services, Expenses, Taxes
   4. What Counts as a Gift for Purposes of Medicaid Planning?
   5. Qualifying Asset Transfers
   6. Transferring Real Property Without Jeopardizing Medicaid Eligibility
   7. Private Annuities and Promissory Notes
   8. Treatment of IRAs and Retirement Accounts

3. Ensuring Spousal Protections

   1. Maximizing Monthly Maintenance Need Allowance for Community Spouse
   2. Community Spouse Resource Allowance and CSRA Appeal
   3. Using Homestead Exceptions
   4. Obtaining Hardship Waivers
   5. Is Divorce a Prudent Option?

4. Asset Transfers in Crisis Planning

   1. Using Asset Purchases and Asset Conversions From Countable to Excluded
   2. Asset Transfers and the Reverse Half-Loaf Method
   3. Crafting Caregiver Agreements Between Parent and Child
   4. Residence Transfer Options
   5. Calculating and Contesting the Penalty Period
   6. Dealing With Partial Months of Ineligibility
   7. What to Do With Unexpected Cash Inflows

5. Maintaining an Ethical Practice

   1. Who is the Client?
   2. Avoiding Conflicts of Interest When Representing Couples
   3. Setting Reasonable Attorney Fees
   4. Guarding Confidentiality
   5. Verifying Client Capacity
   6. Dealing With Third Parties: Who's Present and Talking in Meetings With Clients?
   7. Scope of Representation
   8. Client With a Disability: What are Your Duties?

6. Medicaid Qualifying Income Trusts

   1. When to Use Income-Only Trusts
   2. Can Self-Settled Trusts Harm Medicaid Eligibility?
   3. Taxation of Medicaid Qualifying Trusts
   4. Drafting Key Trust Provisions (With a Review of a Sample Trust)
   5. Are IOTs Subject to Medicaid Estate Recovery?
   6. Funding the Trust

7. Special Needs Trusts: Protecting Benefits While Providing for Beneficiary Expenses

   1. SNTs vs. ABLE Accounts: Estate Recovery and Other Considerations
   2. First-Party vs. Third-Party SNTs: Which One to Use?
   3. Which Assets to Use for Funding the Trust
   4. Choosing the Right Trustee
   5. Drafting Key SNT Provisions (With Sample Trust Language)