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Farming is a generational business. Handing the land down to the next generation is a goal for many farmers, but that can’t happen if you lose your farm to Medicaid because of poor planning.
“Everybody should have estate planning in place,” says Natalie Boocher, Farm Medicaid and Elder Law Attorney at Schwarz Law, an agriculture-focused law office with offices in Royal Center and South Bend. “It really offers liability protection for farmers.”
Boocher says everyone tells her, “’I’m not going to a nursing home. I’m staying home until I pass away.’ And that’s a great goal to have. But there’s absolutely no downside to putting protection in place should something occur that that can’t happen.”
Boocher adds that if you are 55 years and older, and receive Medicaid coverage, your assets are subject to a Medicaid lien without the proper planning 5 years in advance.
“So, the family has to sell off assets to liquidate them and have funds to private pay. They also have to account for everything. So, you’ve got checking accounts, the cash value in life insurance, anything that’s in IRAs or retirement accounts, so really every asset is open to private paying.”
That would include your biggest asset- your land. Boocher says there are different avenues to help protect against that. The most used option would be to put the farm ground in an LLC.
“And it serves a lot of purposes there. You’ve got liability protection in case something happens. Even if you’re in a car accident or you have some type of personal judgment against you, we’re separating the ground out into its own company. It also allows a transition to children slowly over time or upon your passing. And the big one is protecting it in terms of Medicaid. So, if you have to go into a nursing facility, that ground is protected.”
Protect your farm from getting taken by the nursing home and Medicaid by putting a plan together today. Visit TheFarmLawyer.com to read their blog and find more information.