Funeral Contract Mistakes
Before spending all of their assets many families that work with an experienced Medicaid Attorney purchase a funeral contract for the Texas Medicaid recipient. The reason is simple, once the family member is on Medicaid they will never be allowed to have more than $2,000 in assets. Funerals generally cost a lot more than $2,000 so it makes sense to use some of the remaining funds to provide for this future need while the funds are available now.
Funeral contracts are like any other contract and can be a bit complicated. In any given funeral contract you may have 3 different roles to identify: purchaser, owner, and beneficiary. Unfortunately, many of the funeral contracts I see that people have purchased without legal advice are not setup in the proper way. These families often end up with a family member who has power of attorney for the Medicaid applicant being identified in the contract as the owner or purchaser. That is not the best way to setup a funeral contract if you want to go “by the book” and minimize potential problems during the 45+ day Medicaid application review period.
Speak with a Texas Medicaid Attorney and get help if you want to avoid mistakes like these before and during an application for Medicaid nursing home benefits.