Long Term Care Medicaid has financial limitations on assets in order to qualify financially. The social worker assigned to the application needs to understand the history of gifting, account closures, the origin of money deposited into an account, and whether withdrawals from an account were used to purchase goods and services at fair market value. Adult children managing the financial affairs of a disabled parent must stop doing the following:
Comingling their parent’s money with their own money.
Paying the parent’s bills from their personal account.
Gifting their parent’s money to family members in a self help effort to spend down to the Medicaid asset limitation.
Failing to keep good financial records of how the Parent’s money is spent.
Failing to keep receipts for major purchases.
Putting themselves on the title to real estate with their parents.
Expecting to get reimbursed for money fronted the parent without having the supporting paper work to prove the temporary loan.
Drafting legal documents themselves using down loaded forms from the internet such as a general durable power of attorney, a will or a caregiver contract.
Trying to complete the Medicaid application process themselves when they have a job, family, and are the main care giver for their parent.
Not paying the facility (using the parent’s money) for the care that it provides the parent.
