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Drafting Irrevocable Trusts to Preserve Medicaid and VA Benefits

Selecting Trust Type, Protecting Assets, and Optimizing Tax Planning for Long-Term Care

Note: CPE credit is not offered on this program

Recording of a 90-minute CLE video webinar with Q&A

This program is included with the Strafford CLE Pass. Click for more information.
This program is included with the Strafford All-Access Pass. Click for more information.

Conducted on Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Recorded event now available

or call 1-800-926-7926

This CLE course will provide counsel and advisers serving elderly clients with a focused review of crafting irrevocable trusts to meet VA and Medicaid eligibility requirements and achieve asset protection and tax savings for clients.

Description

When integrating estate with long-term care planning, elder law practitioners and tax advisers use irrevocable trusts to protect assets and qualify clients for VA and Medicaid benefits more efficiently. Counsel must know about different types of trusts and how trust terminology affects both the grantors and beneficiaries.

Counsel and advisers must understand income and transfer tax rules related to irrevocable trusts, which assets can go into the trust, rules on who can serve as trustee, prohibited trustee powers, how to make distributions, and various tax considerations.

Our panel will explain the difference between grantor and non-grantor trusts and how to use the grantor trust rules to a client's advantage. The panelists will also explain drafting approaches for trusts that maximize both income and transfer tax consequences, so the assets transferred to these irrevocable trusts are excluded from your client's Medicaid estate but included in your client's federal gross estate.

Listen as our authoritative panel of elder law and estate planning counsel outlines best practices to integrate irrevocable trusts into the estate and long-term care planning to ensure that clients meet the VA and Medicaid eligibility requirements and receive maximum asset preservation in the most tax-efficient manner possible.

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Outline

  1. Irrevocable trust basics
  2. Rules for who can serve as trustee
  3. Trustee powers that must be prohibited
  4. Grantor trust status for income and estate tax purposes
  5. Estate tax and other considerations
  6. Assets that can go into the trust
  7. Distribution rules
  8. Asset protection
  9. Common trust challenges and ways to prevent them
  10. Revised VA lookback rules

Benefits

The panel will review these and other notable issues:

  • What are the income tax differences between grantor and non-grantor trusts?
  • How should counsel draft a trust that is compliant for both Medicaid and VA purposes?
  • How and why transfers to these trusts should be incomplete gifts for estate and gift tax purposes

Faculty

Manz, Angela
Angela N. Manz

Attorney
The Law Office of Angela N. Manz

Ms. Manz practices in the areas of estate planning and elder law. She is a member of National Academy of Elder Law...  |  Read More

Williamson, Jeffrey
Jeffrey L. Williamson

Founder
J. L. Williamson Law Group

Mr. Williamson’s practice specializes in taxation and estate planning. He has particular expertise in estate and...  |  Read More

Access Anytime, Anywhere

Strafford will process CLE credit for one person on each recording. All formats include course handouts.

To find out which recorded format will provide the best CLE option, select your state:

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