When one spouse begins to need long-term care, the financial question that follows is almost always about the other spouse. Nursing home care in New York City runs well past two hundred thousand dollars a year, and home care hours add up quickly, so what the healthy spouse asks me is whether the savings the […]

Crisis Medicaid planning is the work I do when a nursing home admission is already on the calendar rather than years away. It is different from the planning I do with clients five or more years ahead of time, where assets are moved into an irrevocable trust and left to season past the look-back. In […]

Families who include a child, a sibling, or a grandchild with a long-term disability come to my office with two goals that appear to work against each other. They want that person to receive a fair share of the estate, and they want the Medicaid coverage and Supplemental Security Income that pay for home care, […]

Many of the people who come to me needing help at home are in an awkward middle position. Their income is too high for Medicaid, but nowhere near high enough to pay an aide privately at New York rates. In 2026, a single applicant for Community Medicaid in New York is permitted to keep $1,836 […]

A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust is an irrevocable trust used to move a home out of your own name so that it is not counted against you if you later need Medicaid to pay for long-term care. Most of the discussion around these trusts centers on eligibility and protection from Medicaid liens and estate recovery, […]

Much of the Medicaid work that comes into my office arrives late. A parent has already had the fall or the stroke, the hospital is discharging them to a skilled nursing facility, and the family is learning for the first time that Medicaid reviews five years of financial history before it pays a dollar toward […]

If you could no longer speak for yourself in a hospital room, who would the doctors turn to, and how would they know what you actually wanted? That single question is the reason two very different documents exist in New York law, and I find that most clients use the terms “health care proxy” and […]

By Roman Aminov, Few things trip up a Medicaid application in New York faster than a joint bank account. It seems harmless enough. You added your adult child to your checking account years ago, maybe for convenience, maybe so they could help pay bills if you got sick. The account carries a right of survivorship, […]

If you own property in New York and you're thinking about long-term care, you've probably heard about the Transfer on Death deed. This relatively new tool, available in the state since mid-2024, lets homeowners name a beneficiary who will inherit the property automatically when the owner passes away. No probate court, no drawn-out legal process. […]

As a Queens, NY trusts and estates attorney, I frequently guide families through the Medicaid home care application process when a loved one needs assistance while remaining safely at home. Community Medicaid, delivered through Managed Long-Term Care (MLTC) plans, provides essential services such as home health aides, personal care assistance, and adult day care. The […]