Taxation & Estate Planning

Under Medicaid, or MassHealth, regulations, the applicant is allowed to have $1500.00 in a "Burial Account."  However, if you go down to your bank and ask to open a "Burial Account", they may look at your strangely and not know what you mean.  When this happens to my clients, I tell them to go back to the bank and request to open a Savings Account.  Many times a bank will allow you to name the account, if they do simply have the account named "Burial Account."  If you cannot name the account, that is ok.  You will report it to Medicaid as a Burial Account, and they will send you back a piece of paper to sign indicating that you understand that you cannot spend the money in the account on anything except your burial. 

This is one of the easier aspects of applying for Medicaid.  If you find you have more complex issues, or just want someone else to handle everything, feel free to call me about setting up a consultation.