As critical as funding your trust is, you may need to transfer your home out of your trust as a result of Estate of Atkinson v. Ohio Dept. of Job & Family Servs., 144 Ohio St.3d 70, 2015-Ohio-3397, an Ohio Supreme Court case decided August 26, 2015. This case held that your home will be a countable resource for Medicaid qualification purposes if your home is owned by your revocable living trust. Yikes!
The Atkinson case may not apply to you if you have sufficient assets or long term care insurance to pay for your assisted living or nursing home care. If you don’t, you should probably transfer your home out of your trust. Please contact us to discuss the best way to proceed to protect your home and still carry out your estate planning goals. This is not a do-it-yourself project!