what anunities are available for someone 100 years old for estate
planning - are there other ways to 'protect' funds from probate and
nurning homes

Hi Charlott719,

I recently explored this very issue for my parents. One of the reasons
people wish to protect their assets is in order to qualify for
Medicaid, which is the federal government's insurance program for
indigent persons. The government has established a time period of
eligibility for transfer of assets, called a Look Back period. The web
page below will give you a brief explanation.

Medicare, Medicaid and Health Insurance (scroll half way down page to
section titled "Asset Protection and Medicaid")
http://www.dcsladelaw.com/MMandHI.htm

A person with enough assets to invest in annuities is not going to be
immediately eligible for Medicaid due to the look back period and
other Medicaid guidelines.

I will assume in answering this question that the individual you wrote
about is Medicare-eligible. One thing the individual can do to protect
assets is explore long term care insurance options. Long term care
insurance helps cover the costs of nursing home and other types of
care that are excluded from Medicare. The links below will give you
some information on long term care.

Private Long-term Care Insurance
http://www.aarp.org/confacts/health/privltc.html

Nursing Homes: Paying for Care
http://www.medicare.gov/nursing/payment.asp
(Scroll down to Long-term Care insurance for free publication called
"A Shopper's Guide to Long-Term Care Insurance.")

Google Search Results for "long term care insurance"
://www.google.com/search?q=long+term+care+insurance&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

If you'd like to explore annuities, trusts, and other financial issues
for the elderly, the links below will provide you with more
information.

Should An Older Person Purchase an Annuity?
http://www.annuitytruth.org/

Special Report: Annuities and Older Adults
http://www.annuitytruth.org/report/specialreport.htm

FirstGov for Seniors Links
http://www.seniors.gov/other.html

Elderweb Finance and Law 
http://www.elderweb.com/default.php?PageID=814

Financial Concerns for Seniors
http://seniorliving.about.com/cs/finance/index.htm

Living Trusts
http://www.divorcelawinfo2.com/mylawyer/guideview.asp?layer=2&article=35

Avoiding Probate Through Living Trusts
http://www.elderlaw.com/probate.htm

AARP (formerly known as American Association of Retired Persons)
Tips for Consumers: Choosing a Lawyer
http://www.aarp.org/lsn/tips.html

Commission on Legal Problems of the Elderly
http://www.abanet.org/elderly/home.html

National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys 
Resource Links
http://www.naela.org/public/resourcelinks.htm

Elder Law Answers
http://www.elderlawanswers.com

Consumer Concerns for Older Americans
http://www.consumerlaw.org/seniors_initiative/information.html

Consumer Concerns for Older Americans
Avoiding Living Trust Scams: A Quick Guide for Advocates
http://www.consumerlaw.org/seniors_initiative/avoid_scam.htm

Consumer Concerns for Older Americans
Tips for Seniors on Living Trusts
http://www.consumerlaw.org/seniors_initiative/tips_livingtrust.htm

SeniorLaw: Elder Law & Legal Resources on the Web
http://www.seniorlaw.com/resource.htm

H.E.L.P.
Helping People Meet Aging-Related Legal and Care Challenges
http://www.help4srs.org/

NAELA Hot Links
http://www.naela.com/naela/hotlinks.htm

Medicare 
http://www.medicare.gov

Medicare and You 2002
http://access.adobe.com/perl/convertPDF.pl?url=http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/mandy.pdf

Federal Consumer Information Center (to get pamphlets on various
topics)
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/results.tpl?id1=18&startat=1&--woSECTIONSdatarq=18&--SECTIONSword=ww

Google Search Results for "protect assets nursing home"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=protect+assets+nursing+home&btnG=Google+Search


Below are two books that may interest you.

Protect Your Assets From the Catastrophic Costs of Nursing-Home Care 
http://www.living-trusts.net/nursing-care.html

Beat the Nursing Home Trap
http://www.nolo.com/lawstore/products/product.cfm/objectID/89ACF736-4FC7-4489-A532BDFD7E894A1D

I hope you will seek the services of an attorney familiar in elder
law. The links above should help put you in touch with qualified legal
assistance. Please let me know if you desire any clarification.

Best wishes,
fsw

---

Clarification of Answer by fsw-ga on 24 Jul 2002 14:00 PDT

Hello again,

I think it's very likely that you will discover that long term care
insurance is the most expedient means to protect the individual's
financial assets.  So I wanted to give you a few more links on that
topic.

Long Term Care Insurance - Why Won't Medicare Pay for Care?
(Scroll down past all the ads at the top of the page)
http://www.longtermcareinsurance.org/i-medicare.html

Avoiding Fraud When Buying Long-Term Care Insurance:
A Guide For Consumers And Their Families
http://consumerlawpage.com/article/insure.shtml

A Big Decision for Women: Should I Buy Long-Term Care Insurance? 
http://www.aoa.gov/elderpage/walltc.html

Ohio Shopper's Guide to Long Term Care Insurance
(Good information even if you're not in Ohio)
http://www.ohioinsurance.gov/consumserv/ocs/LTCareGuide/LTCShoppersGuide.htm

If you don't already have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your
computer, you can get it here. You'll need it to read the Ohio
Shopper's Guide.

Adobe Acrobat Reader 5
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

I discovered something very positive in researching long-term care
insurance plans for my parents. Many of them cover services at home
and are not restricted to covering nursing homes or other extended
care facilities. That is important because so often the elderly enter
a nursing home not because they are in need of skilled care, rather
they simply cannot provide for their basic needs at home. Often a long
term care insurance policy will help pick up the costs of providing
basic assistance at home (meals, bathing, dressing, etc.).  Sometimes
these basic services enhance the individual's independence enough to
keep him/her at home and out of a facility.

If the individual you wrote about is in need of assistance at home
now, please contact the Eldercare Locator service.

Eldercare Locator
Phone: 1-800-677-1116 Monday - Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. EST
Web site: http://www.eldercare.gov/default.asp

Please let me know if you desire any additional information or
clarification.

fsw

no one could tell me where to find an anunity for someone 100 yrs old
- found from a different source

The other way of interpreting the question is, when a person has
sufficient assets to pay for her own nursing home care, how can she
best become Medicare eligible without depleting her assets for her own
care. That is to say, how can she maximize the estate she leaves to
her heirs.

The answer to this type of question is not simple. The look-back
periods alluded to above come into play, which are deliberately
designed to make it difficult to shield assets from being expended for
care. Also, annuities tend to be poor investments, with high
commissions for those who sell them.

The cost of probate usually isn't that bad in most states, due to the
simplification of the estate administration process. If the estate is
complicated, or if there are squabbling siblings, perhaps a trust is
in order.

The best thing to do, in my ever-so-humble opinion, would be to bite
the bullet, and hire an elder law estate planning attorney. I have had
good luck finding competent elder law counsel through the directory at
http://www.naela.com/Applications/ConsumerDirectory/index.cfm . Sure,
it will cost you a lot more than $50, but it will also provide you
with firm ground to stand on.

Hi, Charlott719.

I was briefly in the financial services industry here in Canada, and
this is a very complex subject!

Ideally, if the amounts involved warrant, you should have not one but
three professionals on your "team".  A lawyer, to advise you on the
pertinent estate laws; an accountant, to advise you on the pertinent
tax laws; and an investments advisor (from either the insurance or
investment field, there's considerable overlap) to advise you on the
appropriate "vehicles" to employ in reaching your goal.  Many
professionals in these fields already network with each other, so
starting with one should lead you to the others.  Go with whoever you
can get the best references from.

If this is not practicable, Expertlaw-ga's advice is quite sound.  

Do read as many of fsw-ga's links as you can manage, though.  As with
anything else, the more informed you are, the better decisions you'll
be able to make.  Good luck!

-Chromedome