Preparing your estate

Still working on getting this ready to present. Any input would be appreciated.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

I wonder if coins can be kept in trust, such as other valuable assets? Say I proportion every coin I buy in a year, every year into five different trusts. There may still be taxes due depending on how it's done, but not always. My sister and I have a trust which includes a vacation home on some land that is tax exempt, so perhaps instead of worrying about wills and taxes something along these lines could be done.

 

Bump... (less than a month till I need to present)

 

Would this apply for something that you purchased 20 or 30 years before but gave to a relative in the last 5 years? Or would it only affect items purchased in the last 5 years and immediately gifted along?

 

Did you view the presentation or just open it & scroll through the slides?

Most of the text in there is covered with images that popup & go away if you view the presentation rather than looking at the slides.

 

I also found a pretty good quote to end with:
“No heat, no winter, neither fire nor sea,
Nor sword can keep you back, while anyone alive
Is richer. What pleasure can you find in a horde
Of gold & silver that you hide in a hole in the ground?
‘But divide it up, it would come to nothing,’
Oh Lord: unless you divide it, what’s lovely about it?”
-Horace

 

Disclaimer - I am not advocating performing any actions that could be inferred or derived from what I'm saying here. I am simply stating how the process worked from my own experience experience in the recent past. Also remember, laws vary by state - I have a cousin in South Carolina where their estate laws are quite different - so please do your research in the state you are residing in.

It's the timeframe of the gifting itself, not the acquisition (for the most part, see below). However, the obvious stipulation applies that whatever the gift was, it would have to be traceable to be discoverable. And, it's the original cost of acquisition, not the current market value (it works both ways). See below for more.

Their main concern is your financial holding accounts (bank, 401k, stocks etc) and large physical assets (property(ies), car(s), etc) valued over $500, if you have proof of ownership. They go through the bank transactions and skim for any transactions over $500, leaving those under alone unless there's a clear pattern (i.e. you wrote checks for $495 every month over the past few years, they'll look at that and want to know what for - i.e. they're looking for a pattern of gifting money to kids, grandkids, etc).

So, here's a few scenarios - assumption you're filing for Medicaid today, 4/19/2014, in the state of NJ:

1) you have a coin collection that was amassed over the years, but you did not spend over $500 of traceable money (debit / credit card or bank check) for any of the pieces within the last 5 years.

2) you bought pieces for your collection over $500, with traceable funds - i.e. you bought a gold coin off APMex with your debit card.

In scenario #1 they will never know it exists, and will not question unless the information is volunteered. That coin collection is "under the radar" and will not be counted against your assets for disposal. If you gave that to your grandson for example, no one would ever know.

In scenario #2 they will see the transaction in your bank statement, and will flag it for more information on what it was and who it was for. It would be counted against you as a "gift" transaction and they would be looking to recover the worth of that piece somehow so they can apply it to the list of assets that would need to be disposed of before you would qualify for assistance. If the gold coin was still in someone's possession - you, your spouse, your grandkid - they would require it to be "sold" and the assets put back into your account to go to paying your medical bills until it runs out.

Now, I quoted sold in the last sentence because they quite frankly don't care where the money comes from when paying it back. They want an exact value put back into your account. So, someone would have to come up with the money by actually selling it, or your kid or grandkid would have to pony up the money (by a traceable means, i.e. check). And, they want the exact value you paid for it. If you bought it last year when it was $1800, and it's now $1300, guess what - you're on the hook for the $1800, regardless. However, it works vice versa, so if you bought a coin for $200 but it's now worth $500, they want the $200 back.

I hope this makes a little more sense, but it's maddeningly confusing at times...

 

YES! I see that.... now.

Sorry, I have to brush up on Powerpoint.