When our flooring was installed we ended up with about 4+ boxes of the wood laminate leftover. Rather than return the 4 full boxes, we opted to keep and eventually use some in our bonus room. DH wants to build a bar area up there (we had it plumbed for a sink) and use the hard flooring for that area where the bar will be. The rest will be carpeting (someday).
Yesterday he got the flooring put down. We had figured we didn't have quite enough to do the area we want, so first I called our flooring guy to make sure we can still buy more of this same stuff, before DH put it down. We changed a bit, so that the whole area coming into the room, in front of french doors, is laminate, so we will need a bit more extra than originally thought. We're going to need 5 more boxes. I can't remember exactly what they cost, but I'm thinking it was around in the $3.50 sf cost, so about $70 a box. DH is going to the lumber store today to get some 2x6's to build the frame for the bar. He will be building the whole bar and countertop (using leftover live edge slab) himself. Probably will take him all summer, LOL.
My uncle emailed me last night about his will and gave me the perfect opportunity to tell him my concerns about mom leaving him such a large inheritance at his age. He said he talked to mom last night and decided to take her off his will and have me as the primary beneficiary (with my 2 kids also getting some). Uncle does not have a wife or any children and my mom is his closest living relative, so he's always had her in his will. But, like he said - she doesn't need the money, so no real reason to leave it to her. He wanted my full legal name and address. He doesn't/won't have a huge estate and more than likely as he ages and needs care, it will get used up for that then he will be on medicaid. So, I emailed him back and said I had also been doing some elder estate planning research and am reading it's not really a smart plan to leave a large inheritance to another elder person (well, other than a spouse, of course) as if that person is in nursing/assisted care and on medicaid (as my uncle will at some point be) then that inheritance he'd get from my mom would just go to the state/medicaid. That would be a dumb way to distribute her money, in my opinion. If there is anyway for her to leave him something without medicaid getting it, I'm all for that, but I doubt there is. Uncle replied that makes sense. Also, from what I read, if he is on medicaid and gets an inheritance, then he would probably become ineligible for medicaid (then of course the money just going for his care costs until it ran out and he'd be back on medicaid)
I have my mom scheduled to get her new state "ID card" on Aug 12. Geez - I knew you had to make an appt. here to do that, but didn't think it would take a month to get an appt. So, I have her scheduled that day at 11am and I will just take the day off work. I'm sure she will probably need some form of ID to show, when we go see an attorney to change her will, so that will have to be done after that. But, at least it's scheduled now and I will get an attorney scheduled for later August.
I have a headache! LOL
My friend is a twin, lives in Switzerland and worked all her life. Her widowed mom lived in England. My friend married a lovely guy who just happens to be a Swiss banker who makes/made wonderful money. He's an absolute treasure. She's the only one of the two girls who took care of her mom, both financially and emotionally, the other twin being more interested in flitting from one vacation to the next and never really getting down to actually working - which is fine when you're 30 but not so much when you're 60-70 and have no pension. Anyway, when J's mom died her banker husband had power of attorney and he just took cash from his MIL's account and gave it to mom's brother "cash in hand" because of how he had taken care of his MIL (my friend's mom) in England. This sounds complicated but in the end the other twin (in New Zealand) got her share of the inheritance (minus a couple thousand ££££ which had gone to mom's brother). I'm not sure where I'm going with this but I agree that neither your mom nor your uncle need to leave large amounts to each other - a token bequest would seem more than enough.
ReplyDeletethat's what I was actually just thinking too. I'd rather just have her leave his share to me and I help him with giving him "gifts" of money. It doesn't sound like, though, if he's on medicaid by then, any gift he got would still get taken by the state for his care :(.
DeleteI meant to say any cash gift he got, if on medicaid would get taken. I didn't word that very clearly, above.
DeleteHow would they know if you gave him a thousand here & a thousand there? Almost like sticking money in a birthday card for him or something - they couldn't take that, could they?
DeleteI really don't know how they would know that, other than I assume you'd strictly have to give the person cash and they couldn't deposit it. Like Lucy mentioned below, once he is at the point in nursing care, he really won't have much need for much "extras" other than clothing and personal supplies and if he's in that condition, he won't be able to be out spending cash somewhere, I know my grandma wasn't in her last few years. There would have been no point in giving her cash in a card - she couldn't go anywhere to spend it.
DeleteI am on medicaid, and i think i was told to report cash gifts, new pair of shoes, extra food, so it would be taken into account as to what i am eligible for. Or, maybe i dreamed that...lol.
ReplyDeleteit sounds like he would definitely have to report a cash gift or an inheritance.
DeleteYou are being smart by making these changes. I know from experience with my dad (although he was private pay) that should a person need medicaid, they will look over finances with a fine tooth comb. From what we learned, is that they can go back five years. My brother handled our dad's finances and was extremely careful not to have any odd changes such as writing larger than usual gift checks, etc. If your uncle ever does end up in a nursing home, you'll be doing right by him (and your mom) by keeping him well dressed, and providing decent toothpaste and soap! (I worked as a LTC nurse for many years!)
ReplyDeleteI recall that my SIL checking to get my MIL on medicaid what a hassle/fine tooth comb that was, due to the little bit of money they did have. They would have been allowed to spend down some of it on home repairs. I agree, once uncle is in nursing/assisted care, providing him those things will be easy to do. My grandma was private pay for about 2 years and then she was out of savings, but she hadn't made any big changes or spent anything big, so it was a fairly easy process. Though I could imagine if someone was already on medicaid and then got an inheritance, even a small one, what a mess that would make with medicaid eligibility.
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