If the worst case scenario happens and you are forced to go to a nursing home, what is your biggest concern? After having this conversation with thousands of clients, St. Charles Elder Law Attorney Rosalind Robertson can attest, “the biggest concern for most people is protecting their spouse. They do not want to see their own illness destroy a lifetime’s worth of financial savings and leave their spouse in a compromised position.” Unfortunately, traditional estate planning will not protect your spouse from long term care. If you want to protect your spouse and make sure they live out their life in the same manner they are accustomed to, Spousal Protection Planning is a must.
Traditional Estate Planning Will NOT Protect Your Spouse
But we have already done our estate plan; doesn’t that protect us? Unfortunately, no, traditional estate planning does not protect you, your spouse, or your assets if you get sick and require custodial care. Estate planning is centered around where your assets go when you pass away. The language in the documents is designed to carry out your end of life wishes. That same language limits and often prevents the very actions that need to be taken to protect your assets. The reality is a significant percentage of us will not simply just pass away in our sleep.
Spousal Protection Planning Provides Peace of Mind
St. Charles Elder Law Attorney, Stephen Jones noted that, “basic estate planning would have cost my mother seventy-four percent (74%) of her assets when dad got sick. If their planning was focused solely upon what happens to their assets when they are gone, it would have had a devastating economic impact on my mother.” If you want to protect your spouse, you have to do more than traditional estate planning. Spousal Protection Planning incorporates passing your assets to whomever you wish. More importantly, Spousal Protection Planning prepares for what happens when you get sick so there are still assets left to pass to someone. Spousal Protection Planning involves building into your legal documents the powers necessary to give your family options. St. Charles Elder Law Attorney, Stephen Jones notes, “when we have done Spousal Protection Planning for a client it allows us to provide comfort to a grieving family. Their loved one may need custodial care, but they can rest a little bit easier in knowing that the healthy spouse is going to be ok financially.”
Spousal Protection Against Forced Spend Down
When someone gets sick the married couple’s assets are added together and then divided in half. It does not matter if you have kept your assets separate throughout your entire marriage. If you are married, your assets are combined for the Division of Assets. The married couple is required to spend everything in excess of the exempt assets amount. In Illinois, $111,560 in financial assets are exempt and in Missouri the maximum exemption for financial assets is $153,921. Your life’s savings, the excess amount, is supposed to be spent down. Spousal Protection Planning stops that spenddown and protects the life’s savings for the healthy spouse. “The powers included in your legal documents when you engage in Spousal Protection Planning allow us to intercede and prevent the family from being forced through a spenddown,” noted St. Charles Elder Law Attorney Rosalind Robertson.
Find Out More About Spousal Protection Planning
If you or your family are struggling with Estate Planning and Medicaid decisions, make an appointment with the experienced St. Charles Elder Law Attorneys at Jones Elder Law. Want to make sure that your spouse is protected if you get sick, contact our St. Charles Elder Law Firm at (636) 493-3333 and see if you are eligible for a complimentary Vision Meeting.
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