Living Will

That is a good question and something that probably depends on several factors, such as whether you are in a private nursing home or one run by your state or county. See if there is a senior assistance program for your area, and they would have free legal assistance for something like this.

My pastor from years back had a stroke and then Alzheimer's, and when his wife could no longer care for him, he was put into the county-run nursing home. She had very little money, so she did not have to pay for his care, but the county put a lien on the property where they lived. After Pastor Reed passed away, his wife was allowed to stay until she died, even though the county owned the property, and the family did have the right to pay back the amount of the lien if they wanted to do that.

In a case where you have your grandson as beneficiary, the money would still be in your account until you died, so it seems possible that the nursing home could attach that along with any other property you own. Maybe, if you do go into the nursing home, you can add him to your savings account, and then he could access it if it looked like they were going to put a lien on your property and finances.

Another thing to look into is called an advance directive. This is not a will and does not need to be notarized, but it tells your family and doctors what to do should you be unable to speak for yourself. this was addressed in @Sheldon Scott’s post about what happened with his wife a few years back.
I have one through my Humana insurance, and anyone can set this up, it looks like, and it is free to do.
Here is the link to the website:
https://mydirectives.com/

 

I think the point is that sometimes any assets can be seized during the bill collection process if you fall into arrears. There would be too many variables in each situation to give you an accurate definitive answer, Betty (not trying to push you away, but not trying to give you bad advice, either.) As Yvonne said, it depends on the nature (ownership) of the nursing home where you are staying, what the agreement says, as well as your state laws on the issue. Because of the impact your state law may have, a local senior advising agency could answer this specific "nursing home collections agency" question best for you. I can tell you that just putting an asset in a will does not shield it from the creditors of the deceased.

You could always just gift your grandson the money at some point. There are no Federal income tax implications for either of you for gifts up to $16,000 (that's the amount for 2022.) Anything over that would be best to discuss with a financial advisor. You may want to do that anyway regarding your having access to the funds should you need them while trying to protect them for your estate.

These are always tough decisions requiring expert advice because we don't get to control the variables...and the laws change.

 

Until we go "crypto," then you'll have a finite time to turn them in for bits & bytes.

 

Would that not depend on the state she lives in? Or is that Federal?