Dear Marilyn,
My mom is concerned about running out of money as she has had to put my dad in a nursing home at a cost of $60,000 a year. Medicare is not paying a dime for his care. They stopped paying for his stroke recovery a few days after he left the hospital. My parents have too much money to qualify for Medi-Cal and were told that they have to "spend down" their life savings and possibly not being able to pass on the family home. What do we do? —Elaine


Dear Elaine,
You can always keep your home as well as many assets. You need to speak to an Elder law attorney (such as myself), who knows the rules. There are 20 plus various legal strategies including moving assets into unavailable and exempt categories.

This begins with having the 27-page Power of Attorney which contains extensive language for Medi-cal pre-planning and making a trust with Medi-Cal language.