You've worked hard to provide a safe and comfortable future for your family. You want to enjoy the later part of your life free from financial worry and secure in the knowledge that you can leave your loved ones with a lasting legacy.
Unfortunately, long-term care facilities don’t take all this into consideration. These companies need to turn a profit and will use your hard-earned assets to cover exorbitant care costs if you haven’t taken the proper steps to protect what's rightfully yours.
While it can be difficult to know what to do, you have legal rights and tools that can be used to protect you. Effective asset protection can help shield you from the financial stress of entering long-term care and preserve your family’s inheritance.
What Is Asset Protection?
Many people may think asset protection is a nice term for an underhanded way of hiding your money or possessions. However, just as you take advantage of tax breaks during filing season every year, you're able to exercise certain rights to save what you've earned.
Asset protection involves using different legal options to control your assets so they cannot be taken by a long-term care provider. It can be used to maintain:
- Bank accounts
- Annuities
- Property
- Investments
To be most effective, an asset protection plan should be put in place as early as possible. Once the need for long-term care arises, there may not be sufficient time to safeguard as many assets as possible. While it can be possible to take some action, taking time now to consider the potential need for long-term care will help you retain your estate and pass on a lasting legacy.
Do I Really Need an Asset Protection Plan?
Long-term care across the United States is expensive. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the average cost of a private room in a nursing home in 2016 was about $92,400. The HHS also cites a 2018 state survey that indicates care in Massachusetts costs even more: an average of $153,000 per year.
It’s hard to know if you or your spouse will need it, but it seems increasingly likely. The HHS also states that 70 percent of Americans aged 65 and older will need some type of long-term care in their remaining years—and nursing homes are not in the business of saving you money. They will take as much money as possible from you directly before drawing on other resources.
Unfortunately, my family had to watch as my own grandparents lost most of their life savings to a nursing home. Since then, I've dedicated my legal practice to preventing others from enduring the same fate. With the proper planning and effective asset protection, you can ensure both the care you need and the ability to secure the future for your loved ones.
What Strategies Can Effectively Protect Assets?
Asset protection involves a variety of different strategies. At Monteforte Law, P.C., we work with clients to create plans that consider their unique goals and situation. Every family is different, and your asset protection plan should be customized in a way that provides the greatest benefit to you specifically.
Often, asset protection plans include the use of:
- Trusts
- Medicaid trusts
- Homestead declarations
- Bank account title transfers
- Annuities
We can help you understand what these tools are and how they may provide the benefits you need to protect your family’s future.
Whether you're facing a sudden change or you simply want to be proactive for the future, contact us today. We'll listen to your story and help you find the most personal, effective way forward, and work with you to provide custom plans tailored to your needs that ensure success.
I'll discuss the pros and cons of every option until we form a plan that makes you feel comfortable and protected. While it’s best and most effective to start as early as possible, it’s never too late to try to protect your family's financial interests. Call our Wilmington office, or take a moment to fill out the contact form on this page. You can schedule a free consultation to learn more about your options.