Having a Lot of Money Saving is NOT GOOD!!!

[Snoopy2645]

Well I hope I never have to one I know what you mean about the house my one set of grandparents my grandpa spent 1 day in a NH & died actually only half the day he was moved thier & passed a few hours later they wanted my grandma to sign her house over my mom said NO WAY

[quippymcflippy]

I don't know if different rules apply in Canada, but to circumvent a lot of the "willing" money issues etc., make sure that elder parents have their children's name on major assets like their property. In my experience (I am an RN), it makes the legal dealings re: placement of seniors into care a lot more streamlined.

[disneysteve]

I don't know if different rules apply in Canada, but to circumvent a lot of the "willing" money issues etc., make sure that elder parents have their children's name on major assets like their property.

There are various legal reasons why it just isn't a good idea.

Let's say my mom put me as co-owner of her home. I get sued at work and lose the case. Mom loses her home because we need to liquidate my "half" of the home to pay the judgement.

Or I'm killed in an accident. My mom is considered to be inheriting my "half" of her home and gets taxed accordingly.

[Aleta]

Also, if you divorce, the wife can force a sale on her part of the property settlement unless otherwise specified in an pre-nup.

Plus, a scrupulous person could sign a parent into a nursing home and take over the house. You have to be very careful about those things.

That's why some people use trusts for property. The laws keep changing so I don't know even how safe that is.

[lrjohnson]

If you have the money saved it should go to pay for services you require and not be left for your heirs. Moving money around just to qualify for services is fraud. Use the money for the service you are getting and then qualify for government services once all resources, including a house, are gone.

As for me, I will always save for retirement and lock in long term care insurance when the time comes.

I agree. I am in Public Assistance, and it surprise me how often folks try to move money around so that the family can qualify to put a person in a nursing home while keeping a lot of money in the family.

As far as people paying in taxes, well, the taxes paid are for a lot of things....military, schools, infrastructure, etc. It's not a saving mechanism. And public assistance is something taxes pay for, but means-tested public assistance is meant for those who can not pay for things themselves. Nursing home assistance is public assistance; in very raw terms, welfare.

Finally, at least in California the rules are not overly cruel. A home is a principal residence and is exempt. There is "estate recovery" to recoup the cost of paying for a person to be in a nursing home, but they won't touch a house that a spouse lives in. Though the property limit is $2000 for a single person, if there is a married couple, the "at home" spouse can keep approximately a hundred thousand, and that amount goes up every year.

Nursing home care costs a lot, over $5000 a month. My personal hope is to never be in a skilled nursing facility, but if I am, I don't have a problem using my own resources first. I think it's a good thing that the government pays $60,000 a year for those who need to be in homes; but for the financial health of our nation, I'd rather the feds be the payor of last resort.

[PRICEPLUS]

The vast majority of people will never need long term care in a nursing home. Generally speaking it might be a rehab stay after some type of injury or other. In any case I would not like to be in one for any reason!

[Homebody]

Also to continue with LR Johnson was saying, I too live in California...
My father "sold his house for over $100,000 less than market rate to my older brother. What they did not know is that Medi-Cal counts what your house is appraised at or market value, so prevent this sort of fraud. They also go back a number of years, I think it was 3 or 5, to make sure you did not transfer assets in an attempt to "hide" your resources.

Of course my father and brother knew nothing about this when they made this "deal". My father was admitted to a local hospital with congestive heart failure and was transferred to a nursing home. Medicare pays for the first 25 days or so. We were in the middle of about to file a lawsuit against my brother when lucky for him my father passed away suddenly just as we were preparing for my mother to take him in on like day 19 at the nursing home.

So if had had lived and needed to stay in the nursing home, we would have had to pay the difference of what he sold the house for and what it was appraised at before Medi-Cal would have kicked in.

My parents had been legally separated for many years and I am forever grateful she had made the decision to take him in. The really odd thing is that dad swore up and down he had not sold the house yet to my brother, but my brother filed the bill of sale the day before my father died.

I still wonder what would have happened if dad had lived and we needed to sell his house to take care of him. Which the rest of us siblings were fine with.

My mother managed to save almost $100,000.00 in seven years after us kids were all grown and she has even more saved after having been retired for about 15 years. Her property here in Northern California is paid for and if we have to we will sell it to take care of her after draining her savings if it comes to that. She is a retired teacher so gets a pension that is more than enough for her to live on. My father also was a retired teacher, but took his retirement and blew it on land scams, which was quite sad, but he didn't care, he was not into money at all (partly why my parents had legally separated).

I have absolutely no qualms about losing any inheritance. It's not my money, it's my mothers and should be used to take care of her. I am proud that we will probably not have to have government help for mom and probably would have not had to had dad lived longer.

My SIL did a reverse mortage and finally sold her parents house and is paying for her mother (her father just passed recently) to live in a small home. Unfortunately her father was so bad with money, she only has enough for about 5 more years. Her mother turns 90 next month.