Attorney Tom Olsen is host of the Olsen on Law Radio Show on in Orlando. Tom has been answering legal questions on his radio show for over 35 years and has been practicing law in Orlando for 40 years.
The Olsen on Law Radio Show is America’s longest running legal radio show.
Produced by Professional Media Ideas. Call or text Chrissy Merrill at 321-207-8384 or by email at chris@olsenlawgroup.com

Transcript:
Attorney Tom Olsen: Robert often people call me and say, "Tom, we need to have a trust because we want to protect our money from creditors, doctors, hospitals, credit cards, automobile accidents, and we want to protect our money from nursing homes using a trust." Robert, do you know what you tell them?
Attorney Robert Hidock: Yes. Unfortunately, the trust is perfect to avoid probate. It helps with certain tax issues, but Medicaid looks through the revocable trust. If an asset is accountable outside of a trust, it is accountable inside the trust. I was talking to a gentleman earlier and he said what about an irrevocable trust? That is a possibility, but we don't ever recommend it because with irrevocable trust the grant or let's say the person that's going into a nursing home can't be the trustee. She cannot be the beneficiary and the trustee cannot even give her a penny. Once you do that irrevocable trust, she has made all of her assets unavailable, and that five-year look-back window starts ticking and there's nothing we can do like say four years into it she has this medical event, all that money has to come back. It's not a good tool to use.
Tom: Folks, when people are talking about using trusts out there, they're all talking about the same thing. It is a revocable living trust. That living trust is for the purpose of avoiding probate. It has nothing to do with protecting your assets from creditors, doctors, hospitals, credit cards, automobile accidents. It has nothing to do with protecting your assets from nursing homes. That's the bottom line.
Robert: Correct.
Tom: Now, what we want to plant a seed out there for all the listeners out there is that we have all the Medicaid-compliant tools we need to protect your wealth from nursing homes whether it's your home, your rental property, your beats condo, your office building, your cash in the bank, your IRAs, your home in North Carolina. We can protect it all with these tools and forget about the five-year look-back period. There is such a thing but all these tools will work around that five-year look-back period.
Robert: Absolutely. I met with a really nice family. They have a home in Lake County and they have like another home down in Creston, Florida. They were worried if mom had to go into a nursing home where they lose that house. I'm down in Creston and the answer is no because what I'm going to do is I'm going to put that house into a personal services contract and it's going to be preserved.
Tom: Robert, we have a free booklet on how to protect your life savings from nursing homes. You can get that by calling the Olsen Law Group in Orlando or you can find it and order it on our website olsenlawgroup.com.
[00:02:48] [END OF AUDIO]

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