As older individuals are becoming increasingly more active, there are also differing strategies to shelter a certain amount of assets from being placed into probate. Many individuals may also face a number of challenges that may force them to move from the home and be forced to live on more limited means. What often results are couples owning property in more than one state that will have to be dealt with in some manner should an individual pass away.
If individuals have wills, they will wish to make certain that provisions in the will meet varying requirements for passing that property on. The process of dealing with such property is known as “ancillary administration.” Property owned out-of-state can be subject to laws in the state where the property resides. Individuals will thus wish to speak to attorneys from that state where the property is located in order to make certain problems do not arise during the probate process.
Couples at this age may also be facing a number of long-term care concerns. For example, if these concerns motivate individuals to sell their property for purposes of liquidation, the proceeds for the sale may at the same time affect the amounts of money individuals would be qualified to receive from Medicaid. Long-term care costs could easily deplete the amount of money for which the house was sold in just a few short years.
Everyone’s estate planning needs are different. In the long run a visit to an experienced estate planning attorney can often prevent assets from being needlessly used up or even wasted because individuals did not understand the financial options that they had available to them.
Source: Glen Rose Reporter, “Life Care Planning: For the Seventies,” Sandra W. Reed, April 1, 2014