Challenges in Medicaid and Estate Planning: Second or Third Marriages, Blended Families, Prenups, Postnups

This CLE course will provide elder law attorneys guidance on navigating potential issues that may arise when engaging in Medicaid and estate planning for clients who have remarried. The panel will discuss the intersection between Medicaid planning and estate planning, the impact of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, and ethical issues for elder law attorneys.

A second or third marriage or a blended family raises special estate planning considerations. For example, the spouses may have children from previous marriages and may structure their estate plans to leave their assets to those children or to both sets of children. Often, these estate plans will include prenuptial or postnuptial agreements.

But Medicaid planning can upend such estate plans. When applying for Medicaid, the assets of both spouses are at risk, regardless of prenuptial or postnuptial agreements. Medicaid planning can also give rise to conflicts of interest between spouses, as well as conflicts of interest between the spouses and the surviving children.

To ensure effective Medicaid planning in such situations, attorneys should pursue strategies such as drafting certain trusts and should recognize and address common ethical issues.

Listen as our panel discusses Medicaid planning strategies in light of estate planning for second and third marriages, avoiding mistakes in drafting trusts, addressing conflicts of interest, and other key issues for elder law attorneys.