Kentucky Medicaid Asset Planning: A Practical Toolkit

Agenda / Content Covered

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1. Qualifying for Medicaid: Eligibility Criteria
   9:00 - 9:45, Misty Clark Vantrease
   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 - 10:30, Misty Clark Vantrease
   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
   10:45 - 12:00, Scott E. Collins
   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, Seth Todd
   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, Misty Clark Vantrease
   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, Scott E. Collins
   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, Kelly M. Gannott
   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?

MISTY CLARK VANTREASE is an equity partner at Kentucky ElderLaw, PLLC, and focuses her practice entirely on elder law. Ms. Vantrease assists older citizens and their family members on a wide range of issues, including nursing homes, Medicaid, asset preservation, legal documents, guardianship, probate, and related matters. She is the chair of the Elder Law Section of the Kentucky Bar Association; and is a member of the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys, and the Probate Section of the Kentucky Bar Association. Ms. Vantrease earned her B.A. degree, summa cum laude, from Murray State University and her J.D. degree from the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. She also received her LL.M. degree in elder law from Stetson University College of Law.

SCOTT E. COLLINS is the principle of Elder Law Guidance, LLC, in Richmond, Kentucky, where he focuses his practice on Medicaid planning, veterans benefits, estate and special needs planning, and probate. He is the current chair of the Small Firm Practice and Management Section, chair of the Kentucky Bar Association's Elder Law Section, and is active on both the Legislative Committee and the Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee of the Section. Mr. Collins is a frequent speaker for the Kentucky Alzheimer's Association and local veterans organizations and assisted living and long-term care facilities such as the Madison County Estate Planning Committee and Council for Elder Maltreatment and Prevention.

KELLY M. GANNOTT is a partner at Kentucky ElderLaw, PLLC, in Louisville, Kentucky. She is a past officer of the Kentucky Bar Association's Elder Law Section, and a past chair of the Bylaws Committee and the Legislative Committee for the Section. She has also served on the Louisville Bar Association’s Public Service Committee and is a member of the Board for the Kentuckiana Girl Scouts Council. Licensed to practice in Indiana and Kentucky, Ms. Gannott earned her Juris Doctorate degree, cum laude, from Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville; and her undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from Murray State University.

SETH TODD is an attorney in the Wyatt Tarrant & Combs and Yussman Special Needs Law Office. He helps families plan for their disabled loved ones, while also advising trustees and other attorneys on situations that may affect those with special needs. In addition to his special needs practice, Mr. Todd also practices in the areas of estate, business, and charitable planning, including estate and trust administration.