Staten Island Medicaid Planning Lawyer

A nursing home stay in New York can run well over $15,000 a month. For a Staten Island family that wants to avoid watching a parent’s savings disappear into long-term care costs by using Medicaid, we can help you. 

A Staten Island Medicaid planning lawyer at Polizzotto & Polizzotto helps you protect what your family has built while making sure your parent or spouse still gets the care they need. Our firm has worked with Staten Island families for three generations.

We built our practice on one principle: always do right by our clients, even when that means telling you Medicaid planning isn’t the right move for your situation yet. If you’re weighing your options, start by reading about how our Staten Island elder law lawyer team approaches these cases, then reach out for a consultation to talk through your situation.

What Medicaid Planning Involves for Staten Island Seniors

Medicaid planning is the process of structuring your assets and income so you or a loved one can qualify for Medicaid coverage of nursing home or home care costs without losing everything else you own. New York sets strict limits on how much a Medicaid applicant can hold in countable assets.

For a homeowner with a house, some savings, and maybe a pension, those limits can seem impossible to meet without giving up the house or draining a retirement account. However, you may have more options than you know.

The Medicaid Look-Back Period in New York

New York reviews five years of financial records when someone applies for nursing home Medicaid. Any transfers made during that window, gifts to family, property sold below value, money moved into a trust, get scrutinized. Transfers that look like they were made to qualify for Medicaid can trigger a penalty period where coverage is denied.

This is why timing matters so much. A transfer made four years before an application is examined very differently than one made four months before. Your spouse or your children may be counting on a plan that was never actually structured to survive the look-back review.

Staten Island Medicaid Planning Strategies for Protecting Your Home

Your house is often the largest asset at stake, and it’s rarely as unprotected as families assume. A few strategies a Staten Island Medicaid planning attorney at our firm might use include:

• Placing the home in an irrevocable trust well ahead of any anticipated need for care
• Structuring a life estate that lets a parent remain in the home while transferring the remainder interest to children
• Documenting a caregiver agreement for a child who provided care, which can offset certain transfer penalties
• Applying spousal protections that shield a home when one spouse needs care, and the other remains living in the home

Each of these carries different tax consequences and different timing requirements. What works for one family’s situation can create real problems for another, so we walk through the specifics before recommending anything.

Protecting a Spouse Through Community Spouse Resource Allowances

When one spouse needs nursing home care, and the other doesn’t, New York law allows the healthy spouse, known as the community spouse, to keep a portion of the couple’s combined assets. This is called the Community Spouse Resource Allowance, and it exists specifically so the spouse staying at home isn’t left with nothing.

The allowance has a floor and a ceiling set by the state each year. A community spouse can also keep a minimum monthly income regardless of what happens to the spouse in care. Getting these numbers right at the application stage can mean tens of thousands of dollars in the difference.

Asset Protection Trusts and Other Planning Tools

Beyond the home, families often hold savings accounts, investments, or a small business interest that need their own planning approach. An irrevocable Medicaid trust can hold these assets outside your countable estate once the look-back period has passed.

Other tools we use depending on the situation:

• Annuities structured to convert countable assets into an income stream
• Promissory notes between family members that satisfy Medicaid’s transfer rules
• Pooled income trusts for applicants who need to spend down monthly income

None of these tools work in isolation. A plan built around one strategy without accounting for how it interacts with your other assets tends to fall apart under review.

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The Polizzotto & Polizzotto Approach to Medicaid Planning

Our firm started in real estate and probate work before expanding into elder law and Medicaid planning in 2000. That background matters here. Protecting a house, structuring a trust, and qualifying for Medicaid all touch the same legal ground, and we’ve worked in all three for decades.

We don’t take a case just to bill hours. If your situation doesn’t call for a full Medicaid plan yet, or if a simpler step would serve you better, we’ll tell you that directly. Families come back to us across generations because that honesty is worth more than a longer engagement.

What to Expect When You Start the Medicaid Application Process

The application itself asks for years of financial documentation: bank statements, property records, insurance policies, and any transfers made during the look-back period. Missing documentation is a leading reason applications get delayed or denied outright.

We prepare the application alongside the planning work, so the two aren’t handled separately. Once filed, the county has a set window to respond, though incomplete submissions or requests for additional records can extend that timeline well beyond what families typically expect.

Talk to a Staten Island Medicaid Planning Lawyer Before Costs Force Your Hand

Medicaid planning is easiest to do before a crisis, not during one, but even families already facing a nursing home admission still have options. The earlier we understand your assets and your timeline, the more strategies stay available to you.

Call Polizzotto & Polizzotto today to schedule a consultation with a Staten Island Medicaid planning lawyer and find out what protecting your family’s assets actually looks like in your situation. We meet by Zoom when that’s easier for your schedule, and we’ll give you a straight answer about where you stand.