Our Daly Mills Estate Planning attorneys in Mooresville know that when families are forced to make medical decisions that will benefit their loved ones, talk of transferring them to assisted living facilities or nursing homes may become a factor.
These are serious conversations, as they often involve their loved ones leaving their family homes. The next question becomes, what should you do with the house or other property they are leaving behind?
Should you sell? If so, who gets the proceeds from the sale? How does this affect your loved one’s taxes and insurance? Will this affect their Medicaid coverage?
We can help you understand Medicaid and long-term care planning and provide asset protection advice that will allow you to make informed decisions about how to pay for their ongoing care.
If your loved one needs partial or full-time care, transferring him or her to a facility may be the best option.
However, it is important to understand the costs associated with this move.
According to Caring.com, the average monthly costs for these facilities in North Carolina are:
If your loved one has a retirement fund, 401K, or other savings, he or she may be in a stable financial position to absorb these costs. However, depending on their medical needs, and ongoing expenses, outside of the cost of the facility, their financial accounts can be drained quickly.
In other cases, their family home may be all they have to sustain their well-being in the proper facility. Those facts will become evident quickly once you outline their assets and debts.
Selling the family home involves more than deciding to do so. First, you must understand whether there is a mortgage on the home, so you will know what it takes to pay it off, and the amount of the net proceeds.
Next, survey the home for any damages or upgrades that need to be made to successfully put it on the market. This includes cleaning out the property, painting, fixing minor issues, or hiring someone to fix major ones if you cannot do it on your own.
Partner with a real estate agent who can provide the best advice on how to price the home, so you are not losing money or overpricing it out of a potential sale. Real estate agents will take a commission from the sale, so be sure to understand the percentage and any other expenses associated with the sale, like the closing costs that will be deducted from the total sale price.
Our Mooresville estate planning lawyers know that selling your loved one’s home is an emotional time. However, the costs associated with assisted living or nursing home facilities can quickly outweigh the attachment you have to the property.
Facing these issues will require time and patience and can be easier to digest with a partner you can trust to help guide you through the challenges that you face. We can help.
To learn more about how we can help you understand how selling the family home impacts Medicaid and long-term care planning, and how we can help with asset protection, call us at (704) 286-8437 to schedule an initial consultation with our estate planning attorneys in Mooresville, North Carolina today.
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