Buying a house in FL through a trust

[OKW Lover]

I know that I'm going to need a Florida lawyer to answer this question. I'm looking for recommendations from people that may have done this already.

Val & I are preparing for a move to Florida and have been thinking about how best to buy our retirement home while protecting our assets against the possibility of having a prolonged nursing home stay eat it all away. I understand that one of the ways to do this is to set up a trust to buy the house. So my question is, has anybody done this recently? Got a lawyer you would care to recommend? Feel free to PM.

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

Hi Jeff we did not do this but your best bet is Morgan and Morgan they are the biggest lawfirm in town.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I would not use M&M as they are the ones who do the moist advertising and they target accidents. And also they have recently been reported as conspiring with some medical practitioners to have them inflate charges to get more money from the insurance companies.

 

[jcb]

I know that I'm going to need a Florida lawyer to answer this question. I'm looking for recommendations from people that may have done this already.

Val & I are preparing for a move to Florida and have been thinking about how best to buy our retirement home while protecting our assets against the possibility of having a prolonged nursing home stay eat it all away. I understand that one of the ways to do this is to set up a trust to buy the house. So my question is, has anybody done this recently? Got a lawyer you would care to recommend? Feel free to PM.

Jeff, this is called (and you will hate this) "elder law" so if you google "elder law orlando" you'll find several firms. The specific issue you want addressed is, I think, referred to as "medicaid planning."

You might also look for "board certified" (link to the Florida Bar certification webpage) attorneys in the elder law field. In the legal field, this means the attorney has proven to a national and state certification body that they have (1) represented a minimum number of clients in the legal field and (2) are willing to take yet another test to prove their knowledge.

The Florida Bar also lists the board certified attorneys in Elder Law by city (there are four in Orlando).

While not every "board certified" lawyer is a top quality lawyer, you narrow the potential for uncertainty by going with someone who is board certified.

 

[NitroStitch]

I work for attorneys that do estate planning, and there's another attorney in our office that does estate planning and Medicaid planning. We're not in Orlando (we're about 1 1/2 hours away), but I can ask if they know anyone who does that work in Orlando - either for good or bad.

 

[OKW Lover]

Many thanks for the suggestions here.

Jack - yes I know I'm now considered an elder. I've got the grey hair to prove it.

Good suggestion about checking for a board certified attorney.

Lisa - I'd appreciate it if you would check and perhaps PM me with whatever you find out. Thanks!

 

[jacstangler]

Jeff: for referrals go to national academy of elder care attorneys. For Florida their is an irrevocable trust for asset protection that protects for medicaid. Their are pluses and minuses. You can google info. You can put anything you want into it. You can still maintain a standard trust for what you don't put into it.
An attorney can advise what is best to put in or not. Also their is a 5 year waiting period funding the trust before you can avoid assets being used first before medicaid kicks in.

John

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

Jeff - My Dad's wife is a lawyer and has a practice in Plymouth. She also got her license for Florida since they spend 50% of their time there. They plan to retire there "someday". She's allot younger than my Dad. So, she'll still be working when they move down there. I'll forward your first post to her and see what she comes up with.

Jennifer

 

[rtobe]

Once you change residences you may want to update other aspects related to your planning which your attorney can asist with. ( and no, I don't follow my own advice )

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

Once you change residences you may want to update other aspects related to your planning which your attorney can asist with. ( and no, I don't follow my own advice )

Don't forget my son's flattie wants to come visit you in CA. Send me your email address.

Thanks!!!

 

[OKW Lover]

Jeff - My Dad's wife is a lawyer and has a practice in Plymouth. She also got her license for Florida since they spend 50% of their time there. They plan to retire there "someday". She's allot younger than my Dad. So, she'll still be working when they move down there. I'll forward your first post to her and see what she comes up with.

Thanks! Please PM me her name. I already have a lawyer here in Plymouth but I'm figuring that the FL laws will be different and I would want somebody in FL who is familiar with the ins and outs of that state.

Jennifer

Once you change residences you may want to update other aspects related to your planning which your attorney can asist with. ( and no, I don't follow my own advice )

Good point Ros. I'm figuring we will have our wills, Healthcare proxies, etc done over then too.

 

[jcb]

I promised myself I would never visit the aarp.org domain but then I found a reference to a 2007 article on estate recovery issues.

I'm not suggesting that reading a 5 year old article is a substitute for a good attorney, quite the opposite, but if anyone wants to better understand the issues, the article is a pretty good resource.

http://www.aarp.org/health/medicare-insurance/info-2007/2007_07_medicaid.html

 

[OKW Lover]

Thanks Hack. I'll read that before I visit the FL lawers.

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