“Information Bits from the Boss: Samantha provides brief answers to clients frequently asked questions”

                                                                         What if I have long-term care insurance?
Here in our office, we talk to clients on how to protect assets against long-term care costs.  One of the things that we like to explore with our clients, with the help of a financial advisor, is whether or not long-term care insurance is a viable option for the client. One of the ways that we partner with our financial advisors is to consider whether traditional long-term care insurance or some other investment product might allow for a client to use those funds to pay for long-term care costs. Long-term care costs would be either in-home care or care provided in a facility.  One of the things that I think people should know with long-term care insurance is that there is no lookback period for it.  That means as soon as you qualify for the insurance and begin paying the premium, you will get the coverage.  Additionally, our office discusses legal techniques that we can use to protect assets against a client’s long-term care costs. Any planning that we do using a trust is going to require a lookback period for any transfers that we might make to help protect assets. Currently, in Pennsylvania, there is a five-year lookback period. Sometimes we have clients that already have long-term care insurance and still do things like a trust to protect  assets.  If you have insurance that will help subsidize the cost of long-term care, then it does allow the ability to transfer assets into a trust or to other individuals and be able to pay for care through the five-year lookback with the insurance funds.  We always welcome the opportunity to work with our financial advisors and our clients.  If you have additional questions, please contact our office.