Help for the Elderly – Miller Trusts and Qualifying for Assistance to Stay in Your Own Home
By: Mike Sukup | Published December 8, 2016
For a person 63 years of age or older that wants to remain in their home, but need some help paying for assistance with cooking, cleaning, and other in-home services, a Miller Trust can be a very useful tool. The Missouri Department of Social Services has certain financial eligibility requirements for home care services that can be quite arduous for an individual to meet. Specifically, the income requirements provide that if your monthly income exceeds $1,281, even if only by $1, you will be required to spend a portion of your income on the services you receive until you only have $841 of your income remaining for all of your other costs. Now, if your monthly income is only $1,280, there is no spend down amount and you qualify immediately from an income standpoint. This is quite a penalty. This is where a Miller Trust can be very useful.
A Miller Trust, also known as a Qualified Income Trust, can hold the income that exceeds $1,281 in trust, allowing the individual to qualify for in-home assistance. Typically these trusts are used for individuals that are relatively close to the $1,281 income limit, but exceed it by $5 to a few hundred dollars. By qualifying in this manner, the individual will no longer have to spend their monthly income down to $841.
Now, there are some conditions to using a Miller Trust. The funds in the trust are to be used for medical costs not covered by medicare or MO HealthNet. A trustee is responsible for the management of the trust and cannot be the individual trying to qualify for services. A trust account will need to be opened with a bank and the excess income will need to deposited in the account each month or the individual will risk disqualification.
A Miller Trust can be a wonderful asset for the elderly to make staying in their home much more feasible, but are not easy to establish correctly. If you would like our assistance navigating this process, or would like to discuss other estate planning issues, give us a call to schedule a consultation.