Page 14 THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, JANUARY 21, 2022 If you have any questions about this week’s report, e-mail us at bob@beaconhillrollcall.com or call us at (617) 720-1562. GET A FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO MASSTERLIST – Join more than 22,000 people, from movers and shakers to political junkies and interested citizens, who start their weekday morning with MASSterList—the popular newsletter that chronicles news and informed analysis about what’s going on up on Beacon Hill, in Massachusetts politics, policy, media and infl uence. The stories are drawn from major news organizations as well as specialized publications selected by widely acclaimed and highly experienced writers Chris Van Buskirk and Keith Regan who introduce each article in their own clever and inimitable way. MASSterlist will be e-mailed to you FREE every Monday through Friday morning and will give you a leg up on what’s happening in the blood sport of Bay State politics. For more information and to get your free subscription go to: www.massterlist.com/subscribe. THE HOUSE AND SENATE. Beacon Hill Roll Call records local senators’ votes on roll calls from the week of January 10-14. There were no roll calls in the House last week. MAKE ADOPTION BY FAMILY MEMBERS EASIER (S 2616) Senate 39-0, approved and sent to the House a bill that would repeal a current law which prohibits adoption of children by family members including older siblings, aunts and uncles. The proposal would allow these family members, with the permission of the county probate courts, to legally adopt their family members. Current law only allows these family members to apply to become a guardian. Sponsor Sen. Joan Lovely (D-Salem) said that this archaic law was put in place at the beginning of the last century to prevent the potential for inheritance abuse, but the commonwealth has since adopted legal protections, such as conservatorships, to prevent this from occurring. “Our families are often our largest sources of support and what a family looks like can mean diff erent things to diff erent people,” said Lovely. “I fi led [the bill] to better refl ect the realities of the lives of Massachusetts residents who love and care for one another … our most vulnerable youth deserve to be cared for by the people who know and love them, and who can best assess their needs.” (A “Yes” vote is for the bill). Sen. Joseph Boncore has resigned MAKE OBTAINING ID CARDS EASIER FOR HOMELESS PERSONS (S 2612) Senate 39-0 approved and sent to the House legislation that would make it easier for homeless youth and adults to secure free state ID cards. The measure would allow homeless service providers or other state agencies to provide the individual with documentation to ~ LEGAL NOTICE ~ Estate of: Date of Death: INFORMAL PROBATE PUBLICATION NOTICE To all persons interested in the above captioned estate, by Petition of Petitioner of of has been informally appointed as the Personal Representative of the estate to serve on the bond. prove residency. Supporters said that currently, a person experiencing homelessness faces prohibitive fees and documentation requirements when trying to obtain an ID card. They noted that ID cards are necessary for applying for jobs, enrolling in school, interacting with law enforcement, accessing government buildings, opening fi nancial accounts and many other basic services that many take for granted. “As the state begins to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn, the Legislature must ensure that individuals experiencing homelessness have the same fundamental opportunities to live happily,” said the measure’s sponsor Sen. Harriette Chandler (D-Worcester). “One fundamental key to accessing basic services are state-issued IDs. Currently, people experiencing homelessness face significant financial and bureaucratic barriers when they attempt to obtain an ID. Now is the time to break down bureaucratic barriers that fuel the cycle of poverty and to ensure equality for all the commonwealth’s residents as we look towards a post-pandemic world.” (A “Yes” vote is for the bill). Sen. Joseph Boncore has resigned HOW LONG WAS LAST WEEK’S SESSION? Beacon Hill Roll Call tracks the length of time that the House and Senate were in session each week. Many legislators say that legislative sessions are only one aspect of the Legislature’s job and that a lot of important work is done outside of the House and Senate chambers. They note that their jobs also involve committee work, research, constituent work and other matters that are important to their districts. Critics say that the Legislature does not meet regularly or long enough to debate and vote in public view on the thousands of pieces of legislation that have been fi led. They note that the infrequency and brief length of sessions are misguided and lead to irresponsible late-night sessions and a mad rush to act on dozens of bills in the days immediately preceding the end of an annual session. During the week of January 10-14, the House met for a total of 39 minutes and the Senate met for a total of three hours and nine minutes. Mon. Jan. 10 House 11:02 a.m. to 11:13 a.m. Senate 11:16 a.m. to 11:26 a.m. Tues. Jan. 11 No House session No Senate session Wed. Jan. 12 No House session No Senate session Thurs. Jan. 13 House 11:00 a.m. to 11:28 a.m. Senate 11:21 a.m. to 2:20 p.m. Fri. Jan. 14 No House session No Senate session Bob Katzen welcomes feedback at bob@beaconhillrollcall.com MEDICAID ANNUITIES Assume a married couple has a home with a fair market value of $750,000 and a joint bank account of $600,000. Also assume the husband’s monthly social security benefit is $2,000 and the wife’s monthly social security benefi t is $1,000. Also assume it is the husband that enters into a nursing home. Pursuant to Massachusetts regulation 130CMR520.019(D)(1), the husband can transfer his interest in the home to his wife without the imposition of the fi ve-year look back period. The wife who is still at home can keep $137,400 of the bank account monies. The husband can only keep $2,000 in order to qualify for MassHealth nursing home benefi ts. For eleventh hour Medicaid planning in this example, the wife can purchase a Medicaid annuity in the amount of $460,600, in order to convert what would otherwise be countable resources required to be spent down on nursing home level care, to an income stream that she would receive on a monthly basis. The monthly annuity payment to the wife would be hers to keep in order to continue to be able to pay her monthly living expenses. The husband’s social security benefi t would be required to be paid to the nursing home. He would be able to keep $72.80 as a personal needs allowance and would be given credit for any health insurance premiums that would continue to be paid in order to keep any existing health insurance policies in place. The $460,600 is arrived at by taking the $600,000 bank account monies less the $2,000 the husband can keep less the $137,400 the wife can keep. The $460,600 in excess assets is what will be used to purchase the Medicaid annuity. The goal would be to purchase the shortest-term annuity for the wife. The term of the annuity cannot be greater than the wife’s life expectancy. If the wife was 75 years old with a life expectancy of 12 years, you would still look to purchase an annuity with a term of no longer than fi ve years. The sooner the wife collects on the annuity, the greater ability she would have to plan in order to protect those annuity payments if she so desires. MassHealth is now requiring to be named as the remainder benefi ciary of the Medicaid annuity to recover nursing home benefi ts paid on behalf of the nursing home spouse. Therefore, if the wife were to collect all or a majority of the annuity payments over that fi ve- year term, and if the wife were to die having never gone into a nursing home, those monies accumulated would have been protected for the children. Once the home is in the wife’s name, she has the option of then transferring to an irrevocable trust in order to avoid probate, start the fi veyear look back period running, and to leave the home to her children in order to preserve the asset for the next generation. Joseph D. Cataldo is an Estate Planning/Elder Law Attorney, Certifi ed Public Accountant, Certifi ed Financial Planner, AICPA Personal Financial Specialist and holds a Master’s Degree in Taxation.
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