Page 18 Like us on Facebook advocate newspaper Facebook.com/Advocate.news.ma MASSHEALTH ELIGIBILITY OPERATIONS MEMO 23-12 bility purposes. Furthermore, in the event M assHealth has just released this operations memo in order to be consistent with federal guidelines when calculating the value of life estates and corresponding remainder interests. This memo supersedes operations memos 19-12 and 20-16 effective immediately. This is an important operations memo as caseworkers will now have to utilize the IRS Section 7520 Interest Rate Tables in order to value these interests instead of the Social Security Administration POMS (Program Operations Manual System) tables. As a result, the value attributed to a life estate interest will be much lower utilizing the 7520 Interest Rate Tables as compared to the Social Security Administration (SSA) tables. If, for example, a married couple had deeded a vacation home to a child and reserved a life estate, and the vacation home was not being rented out in order to argue that it is necessary for self-support thereby rendering the life estate interest a non-countable asset, the SSA table calculation would result in a significantly higher valuation placed upon the life estate interest. That higher life estate interest could then result in the married couple being over the asset limit for MassHealth eligithe real estate was to be sold, a much higher value would be placed upon the life estate interest under the SSA table which would result in a significant amount of cash going back in the name of the life tenant requiring a spend down on nursing home level care of that larger pool of cash. The calculation based upon the SSA table would result in less asset protection as a much smaller amount would be attributed to the remaindermen (i.e. the children). It should be noted that if rental real estate operates in a cash flow profit position, the life estate interest with respect to that real estate will not be considered a countable asset. Upon the death of the life tenant, the real estate will escape estate recovery as MassHealth can only recover benefits paid from the probate estate of the recipient of the benefits. MassHealth will now use the IRS tables in order to calculate the amount of the gifted remainder interest for purposes of calculating the ineligibility period for MassHealth benefits. Once the five year look-back period has expired, it does not matter how much the remainder interest was valued at. The Massachusetts Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys has worked hard to persuade MassHealth to issue this recent eligibility operations memo which in fact is consistent with how it valued life estates and remainder interests for many previous years. Joseph D. Cataldo is an estate planning/elder law attorney, Certified Public Accountant, Certified Financial Planner, AICPA Personal Financial Specialist and holds a master’s degree in taxation. REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS BUYER1 HERRERA, LANDY MICHALSKI, ROBERT S BUYER2 PERLERA, OSCAR SELLER1 GAETANI, FRANCES S APEX CAPITAL LLC SELLER2 Copyrighted material previously published in Banker & Tradesman/The Commercial Record, a weekly trade newspaper. It is reprinted with permission from the publisher, The Warren Group. For a searchable database of real estate transactions and property information visit: www.thewarrengroup.com. ADDRESS 42-44 RUSSELL ST 69 PIERCE ST CITY MALDEN MALDEN DATE 04.07.23 04.06.23 PRICE 720000 835000 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Friday, April 28, 2023 MARATHON | FROM PAGE 16 man games already are having just one umpire due to the shortage these days... A couple of remarkable baseball nuggets: #1) Who is the only pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) history to throw a no-hitter on Opening Day? Answer Below... #2) Does anyone know these two things: A) What is Ichiro Suzuki’s real, legal name... on his Japanese driver’s license, for example, and why is he not enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame right now? Answer below, as well... Malden High senior tennis captain Naveen Nevalapuri is seeking his second Most Valuable Player nod in the Greater Boston League this year and is well on his way, having not lost a set in early play. Naveen is extremely active in extracurricular activities both with his senior class and as an Ambassador with the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA). ANSWERS: In all of major-league history, only one no-hitter has been pitched on Opening Day. Perhaps not surprisingly, it was thrown by the 21-year-old Cleveland Indians prodigy Bob Feller on April 16, 1940, against the Chicago White Sox on a blustery 40-degree day in Comiskey Park. The masterpiece was the first of three no-hitters Hall of Fame Feller threw in his illustrious career, along with a remarkable 12 one-hitters. He had gone 24-9 on the mound the previous 1939 season for the Tribe... ANSWER #2: The name on Ichiro’s driver’s license in Japan is Suzuki Ichiro. In Japan, like in China and Korea, the first name follows the family name. A person with the first name “Ichiro” and the family name “Suzuki” is, therefore, called “Suzuki Ichiro” rather than “Ichiro Suzuki.” In 2001, with much fanfare, he became the first player in MLB history (and only one to date) to have his first name, “Ichiro,” emblazoned on his Seattle Mariners jersey.
19 Publizr Home