Over the last year or two, many people have asked us why we don’t put out much information about veteran’s benefits. Or why we do not talk about it much during our weekly workshops. Several years ago now, the Veterans Administration took it under their own accord and used obscure rulemaking authority to change the rules for Aid and Attendance for veterans.

 

Aid and Attendance is a benefit provided to a veteran who has served at least 90 days with at least one day of which was during active wartime. Previously, a family could meet with an elder law attorney and create an asset protection trust that would allow us to get assets out of the person’s name legally and then be able to qualify them for the Aid and Attendance benefit. The benefit was intended to offset the cost of care, whether it be for in-home care, assisted living, or other medical expenses that the veteran may incur. For perspective, a veteran can get around $2300 a month and the surviving spouse of a veteran can get around $1200 a month. However, as mentioned above, the Veterans Administration did not like that a veteran would be able to plan and get assets out of their name and qualify immediately. Even though Congress did not have an issue with it and chose not to act on the request of the Veterans Administration, the VA still went ahead and changed the rules under obscure rulemaking authority.

 

Now, a veteran who wants to have asset protection planning must do so at least three years ahead of time following a three-year lookback period. Using a trust is made more difficult because the trust that is now required for us to use would not otherwise be used for persons who have more than $12.06 million a person, or 23 million as a couple. The downside is that these trusts require the veteran to give up control and pay much higher trust tax rates. Effectively, planning for Aid and Attendance is no longer available and only clients who are otherwise spent down below the thresholds of approximately $130,000 can qualify.

We did not stop talking about VA benefits intentionally, and although we want to help in whatever ways we can, there is not much that we can do to assist people. Because of this, it has not been on our radar. If you need assistance in this area, we advise that you contact your local Veterans Administration Office.

 

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