ALERT: Significant Changes in Ohio’s Medicaid Income Rules Have Arrived! Qualified Income Trust Needed For Higher Income Families To Be Eligible
For those receiving long-term care services, Ohio’s Medicaid program has always had a monthly income limit. In 2016, that limit is $2,199 per month. However, until now, Ohio was a spenddown state, which meant that as long as the individual spent down each month on monthly expenses below the income threshold, the individual would be eligible to receive Medicaid services. Effective July 1, 2016, no one will be able to spend down to meet the monthly income threshold, but will need to deposit any excess income into a Qualified Income Trust (QIT) to become eligible for Medicaid coverage.
A QIT will divert some of the applicant’s monthly income into an irrevocable trust managed by a trustee (usually a family member). The trust can only be funded with the individual’s pension, social security or other income. No other resources may be added to the trust. The income must first be paid to the individual and then transferred into the trust. The money in the trust can … Read More... “Medicaid: Qualified Income Trust Needed For Eligibility”
On a family law blog, legal discussions about topics such as child custody or divorce are the norm. However, with Father’s Day approaching, we’re going to shift all the focus towards Dad. Instead of analyzing traditional laws relating to domestic relations, the focus of this article will instead be on a “law” of economics that relates to fathers, as well as another newly emerging fatherly trend.
Many people do not understand the distinctions between how one titles one’s assets and the resulting repercussions from it. Properly titling one’s assets can greatly increase the effectiveness of one’s estate plan. Some of these distinctions are described below:
On September 3, 2011, I posted an article on the Ohio Family Law Blog about the “New” and “Improved” Montgomery County Standard Order of Visitation. At that time, the major change was in the way Summer Parenting Time was to be exercised. The Court decided that Fathers should have alternate weeks of visitation during the summer rather than being limited to just five weeks or thirty-five (35) days of visitation. Some Fathers have elected to take advantage of this change in the 
Your divorce is finalized! It is over and done, and you have moved on with your life. The assets, monetary accounts, retirement accounts, and the like all have been divided per the divorce decree. With that divorce decree in hand, you ex-spouse is no longer entitled to any future benefit you may receive, and that goes the same for you. However, there is one benefit you want to keep in mind when you are approaching retirement age. That benefit is the ability to collect Social Security Retirement on your ex-spouses record even if he or she has remarried! Like all government benefits there are some requirements you must meet in order to collect under your ex-spouse’s work record.
Domestic violence is never an easy subject to talk about or, in my line of work, to defend. To be honest, there really is no run of the mill domestic violence case. Some domestic violence cases have no defense and I just work out the best possible deal for my client. For other domestic violence cases, after reading the police report and witness statements, I ask myself “how the hell did this person get charged with domestic violence?”