Life Estate�Not Worth Having?
My father has a life estate in the
home that my brother and I now
own and that I continue to live in
along with my father. Is it true that if
my father should enter a health care
facility with the aid of medicare or
medicaid, because of the life estate,
our home could be financially tapped
into or even rented in-spite of the
fact that I have lived there all of my
life and am responsible for all
expenses and upkeep?
My accountant has advised me to
remove the life estate and as a result
loose my father�s tax exemptions. My
lawyer says that we are well beyond
the five year grace period and are
completely safe. My cousin just
settled a similar scenario so I know
the solution isn't so simple.
Re: Life Estate�Not Worth Having?
Your attorney is right.
And so are you, which means these cases can be very tricky; there are a lot of places to go wrong when it comes to Medicaid eligibility and recovery etc. There are more issues here than you've touched on. Pay for a couple of hours of consultation with an experienced attorney and it will be well worth your time and money; without a doubt. There's too much at stake for your family.
Good luck.
Rick Bryan
New York, NY
