Quote:
Originally Posted by clamendo
Yes. But as I read this thread there is one scenario that has not been brought up but is very realistic. Medicaid! I wonder if you can put a card collection in an irrevocable trust? If you are unfortunate to have you or your spouse end up in a nursing home for any length of time, Medicaid will force the remaining spouse to spend down all your assets to about $80k. If your by yourself and you try to pass it down in a will you would be subject to Medicaid recovery. At $14k/month … you get the picture.
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Wow Carl, that is a whole different topic, and not actually tax related. If you really want, start a new thread in the watercooler section so we don't keep hijacking Jeff's thread. Quick answer though is there is a definite look back period, 5 years I believe. So if you made the transfer/gift more than 5 years before needing to apply for Medicaid to take over paying the bills, they can't touch you and come after the gift/transfer. That is why a lot of people with significant assets, and some dubious medical history or prognosis, often plan ahead and as they are getting older and proactively put all their assets into an irrevocable trust to get the clock ticking on that Medicaid lookback period.
Doing so though is considered a potential gift to the ultimate beneficiaries of the irrevocable trust. So depending on what you gift and how much it is currently valued at, and how many beneficiaries there are, you may have to file a federal gift tax return, and could end up having some gift tax implications and liability as well.