Court of Appeals Upholds Medicaid Annuities: Free White Paper and Webinar
To download the White Paper explaining the Zahner opinion, click on the following link:
http://medicaidplanning.org/zahner-white-paper
I’ve been talking about Medicaid planning for years as vitally important to anyone who is giving advice to clients over 60 who have less than $1 million in assets. My educational institute offers the ONLY accredited Medicaid planning certification (Certified Medicaid Planner™( CMP™)) (www.cmpboard.org).
I’m a huge fan of using Medicaid compliant annuities when giving advice to clients. These annuities are not liked by the government because they help legally shift assets so clients can quickly qualify for financial assistance for nursing home care.
It just got easier to use Medicaid Annuities (the following written by Mike Anthony, JD, CMP™)
On September 2, 2015, the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit handed down one of the most impressive Medicaid planning opinions ever written in Anabel Zahner, et al. v. Secretary Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.
This opinion pushes back against the state’s attempt to count short-term Medicaid compliant annuities as “available resources.” In the opinion, the court goes through one of the most in-depth discussions of Medicaid compliant annuities, their features and uses, and parameters under federal law.
Short-term Medicaid compliant annuities are used when doing Modern Half-a-Loaf plans. The basic concept is to give away half of the assets to intentionally create a penalty period under the Medicaid rules, then use the other half to purchase a short-term annuity to start the penalty period and have enough income to pay for care during the penalty period.
The lower court invalidated the use of short-term annuities as “sham” transactions; however, the Circuit Court soundly rebutted every major and minor point made by the lower court finding that Congress set no minimum term on the annuities and that financial planning is an inherent element in the Medicaid system.
Again, I can’t stress enough the importance of learning Medicaid planning and being positioned to give the best advice to your clients. If you don’t know much about Medicaid planning, you can go to www.medicaidplanning.org and I strongly recommend you sign up to download the white paper and sign up for the webinar.
IRA MAX Webinar on Recording
If you would like to sign up to watch/listen to the IRA MAX webinar that was held a few weeks ago, click on the following link:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/recording/5103011954831964417
