The 3 Pillar Protection Plan
Our 3 Pillar Protection Plan is a comprehensive estate planning strategy that incorporates the knowledge accrued in nearly 3 decades of estate planning experience and is designed to utilize available techniques to shield our clients’ assets from the high cost of long-term care. Its how we can help you qualify for medicaid, should you need it.
After our initial evaluation meeting, our team evaluates our estate planning clients’ needs and goals, and then works efficiently and diligently to prepare the right plan for the circumstances. In evaluating these needs, we evaluate the timing, eliminate risk, and ensure that the clients’ overall goal of protecting their assets will successfully qualify them for Medicaid, should the need arise. In making these determinations, we discuss the applicability and risk of the 30-month lookback rule for community Medicaid (for care provided at home) or the 60-month lookback rule applicable to Skilled Nursing or Facility provided care.
Commonly referred to as a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust, or and Irrevocable Trust, our 3 Pillar Protection Plan is more than that – it’s a comprehensive approach that doesn’t end once the documents are finished but continues with a 5-year maintenance plan and support our clients and the trustees. Its our commitment to making sure the plan works for you the way you want it to.
What do you get as part of The 3 Pillar Protection Plan?
The plan starts at the Initial Evaluation meeting, where a comprehensive intake takes place. We interview you and your family so that we can understand what the objectives of your plan are, what assets you have, and what strategies are best for you.
Once we have evaluated your circumstances, we make recommendations that are best suited for your needs. We will explain why we make these recommendations, and offer you, where available, a cost-benefit analysis of our proposed plan as compared to doing nothing.
After discussing our proposal, we begin drafting documents. These will often include a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust, or Irrevocable Trust, as well as a number of supporting documents. These documents are often neglected or not considered, but they are sometimes the most important, as they are the documents most likely to be used regardless of whether you ever apply for Medicaid. They include a Will to address assets that aren’t transferred into the trust, a Durable Power of Attorney to assist you should you become incapacitated, a Health Care Proxy and Living Will to address medical issues, as well as any other documents that may be necessary to accomplish our goal of Preserving your assets, Providing you Help, and Protecting your Future.
The next step is the document review. That is when you come in to review your documents. We sit and go over the documents with you and spend as much time with you as may be necessary so that you understand them and have all your questions answered. We understand that legal documents can often be confusing, which is why take the time to remove the confusion and explain complicated legal terms and concepts in an accessible manner.
If there are changes required we will make them, and once those changes are made, we execute the documents, providing you with a complete set of originals.
Where many providers’ services end once the documents are signed, our services do not. Once the documents are signed, we assist you with funding the trust, making the legal transfers where appropriate, and providing support to you and your trustee for transferring bank accounts and investment assets.
For the next 5 years, you have our team on your side. Have questions about whether something should go into the trust? Give us a call. Thinking about selling the house? We can help. Our team is here to support you as you maximize the benefit of planning for Medicaid eligibility. We can meet annually, if you like, to discuss changes in your family, your health, and what, if anything, may need to be modified to address these changes…or come in just to say hello.
At Alatsas Law Firm, we provide the one-on-one guidance you need when you’re struggling to resolve an elder law and asset protection concern. We explain complex legal concepts in easy-to-understand terms and encourage all of our clients to fully participate in the decision-making process so they can face their future with confidence.