Texas Medicaid Asset Planning: A Practical Toolkit

Agenda / Content Covered

1. Qualifying for Medicaid: Eligibility Criteria
   9:00 - 9:45, Jason R. Hanna
   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
   9:45 - 10:45, Clifton Coufal
   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. Medicaid Qualifying Income Trusts
   11:00 - 12:00, Laura L. Bromlow
   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
4. Special Needs Trusts: Protecting Benefits While Providing for Beneficiary Expenses
   1:00 - 1:45, Jessica Kludt
   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)
5. Ensuring Spousal Protections
   1:45 - 2:30, Jennifer L. Coulter
   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?
6. Asset Transfers in Crisis Planning
   2:45 - 3:30, Brandon L. Mcgee
   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
7. Maintaining an Ethical Practice
   3:30 - 4:30, Terry L. Garrett
   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?

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Laura L. Bromlow is an attorney with Bromlow Law PLLC. Ms. Bromlow is a certified elder law attorney. She practices in the areas of estate planning, elder law, special needs planning, probate, trust administration and guardianship. She is currently actively licensed in California and Texas. Ms. Bromlow enjoys customizing estate plans to her client’s specific needs, values and priorities. She earned her B.A. degree from St. Louis University and her J.D. degree from Washburn University School of Law

Clifton Coufal is principal attorney at the Clifton Coufal Law Firm, with locations in Plano, Ft. Worth and throughout Texas. Mr. Coufal primarily focuses on meeting the legal needs of the elderly preparing for long term care facilities including wills, trusts, estate, and legal benefits planning to save money and preserve assets. He is a VA accredited attorney and provides solutions for veterans and veteran widows to qualify for the VA Aid and Attendance (VA pension) program. He earned his B.A. degree from Dallas Baptist University, his M.S. degree from Texas A&M University - Mays Business School, his M.B.A. from Tsinghua University, and his J.D. degree from Duke University School of Law.

Jennifer L. Coulter is a partner at the firm of Townsend Allala, Coulter & Kludt, PLLC. She joined the firm in 2011 immediately after graduating from The University of Texas School of Law, with honors. Ms. Coulter is the current El Paso Probate Bar president, as well as being a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. She practices exclusively in the field of elder law, focusing on Medicaid planning, Medicaid estate recovery program avoidance and defense, estate planning, and probate. It is her nursing home Medicaid cases that are her driving passion, though. Ms. Coulter earned her undergraduate degree and J.D. degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

Terry L. Garrett works in elder, estate and special needs planning, guardianship, and probate at The Garrett Law Firm, PLLC, in Austin, Texas. She graduated, with honors, from Cornell University; was on the dean's list at Wharton; earned the Parker Award and a Mellon Fellowship at Columbia University School of Law, and did post-graduate work at Harvard. Ms. Garrett serves on the Board of the Texas chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the Education Committee of the National Guardianship Association. She presents for the Alzheimer's Association, has taught for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and is a member of the Estate Planning Council of Central Texas.

Jason R. Hanna is an attorney at Kearney, McWilliams & Davis, PLLC, practicing in litigation, probate, estate planning, and elder law. Mr. Hanna proudly served his nation with distinction in Afghanistan in 2005 and 2006. After separation from active duty in 2008, and with the values and principles he learned during his career in the U.S. Air Force; integrity, service before self, and the pursuit of excellence; he graduated with a 4.0 from Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. Mr. Hanna later earned his J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from South Texas College of Law. He is a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, Texas Chapter; State Bar of Texas, Real Estate, Probate & Trust Law Section; Veterans of Foreign Wars; Texas Bar College; Alzheimer's Impact Movement; and the Alzheimer's Association, Houston & Southeast Texas Chapter. Mr. Hanna is licensed to practice law in Texas, and is based in the Houston, Texas office of Kearney, McWilliams & Davis, PLLC.

Jessica Kludt is an El Paso elder law attorney with Townsend Allala, Coulter & Kludt, PLLC. She serves on the Board of Directors for the APS Silver Star Board and the El Paso Bar Association from El Paso; and was recently appointed treasurer of the Texas Partners of Adult Protective Services Board. Ms. Kludt's practice includes probate, trusts, special needs trusts, and estate planning. She earned her bachelors and J.D. degrees from the University of Texas at Austin.

Brandon L. Mcgee is the co-owner of the McGee Law Firm. Mr. McGee focuses his practice in state planning, elder law, probate, Medicaid pre-planning and crisis planning, in addition to LLC creation. He is the only DFW member of the prestigious American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys. He is also a member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the State Bar of Texas. Mr. McGee earned his B.A. degree from Texas Christian University and his J.D. degree from Emory University School of Law.