I was recently asked by an elder law attorney to speak with the 70 yr old wife of a man that had just entered into an alzheimer memory care facility. She is facing the prospect of spending all of her assets for his care and leaving her impoverished. Because they did not do any LTC planning, she is faced with few options.
Folks, wake up and smell the coffee! It is not a question of, Will it happen? It is more of When will it happen? and for How long? and How much will it cost my family?
Texas is in the process of offering a program that will provide a partnership for those folks willing to take the time to do some long term care planning. I just attended training to be state certified to offer partnership qualified policies. What this means for you is that the state of Texas will provide a safety net for those citizens that take responsibility for purchasing long term care insurance that is age appropriate for the partnership plan. You will be able to legally avoid spending down all of your family's assets. In a nutshell, if you depleted your insurance benefits, you would have state funds available to help provide for your care. Without this partnership, your spouse would need to spend down all assets first. This is a wonderful planning tool that will benefit middle income families. I will update this later when the plan becomes available however, those wishing to take advantage of this opportunity, contact me and I will show you how to design such a plan.