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Mom is a surviving spouse of WW11 Vet.

I have her investments well secured and sold her home and invested in her name (with me as her exec) to draw interest allong with her husband retirement income to pay for assisted car. Any extra cost (which is a lot) I pay for out of my pocket each month.

The key is to keep the investment to make interest to pay for her car.....take it out to pay the huge increase and you defeat the purpose. At 10K per month (120K per year) it won't take long. Yes we are over the 80K limit by a bunch as well.

Word of Caution on these "qualfications", based on personal experience:

Assets - the max amount of money the VA allows is $80k; a lot of applicants trip up on this factor, and some advisors (attorneys, CPA's, relatives) have given incorrect advice resulting in the applicant not qualifying for the benefit, or, having an asset enter into the ownership of the applicant, thereby, booting them out of the program when the annual EVR is performed. i.e. the Vet owns a house, then decides to "sell" the house, the proceeds then enter into their bank account - there is a good chance they'll be disqualified from the benefit.

Also, several families we have worked with will gift the money assets to the kids; we had one family whose daughter/POA was "gifted" $60,000, as the POA; the POA was liened by the IRS, and they took the money. 

Another case - the son was the POA, an annuity was used to reposition the money, the son had full access to the annuity; the annuity did not have an amendment preventing the son, as owner, from taking the money. The son bought a new house, a new car, and took a cruise.  The agent confronted the son, and charges of fraud and elder abuse have been filed, the son is being prosecuted as I write this.  

How the assets are held and structured is vitally important, to protect the assets of the VET is the primary reason for proper structuring.

 One last case - a family was referred to us for the benefit; an out of state rental property was owned by dad; the advice they had been given was to simply transfer the house into a trust, and dad could still "qualify" for the benefit.  The intent was to sell the house as the costs for the dad's care increased.  We prevented the loss of the benefit, due to the proposed income from the house sale.  We saved them a lot of heartache.

 Facilities - it has been our experience that applicants have the best chance of getting the benefit with one of two conditions are present:1) they are in a Facility that provides medical assistance for at least of the Assisted Daily Living skills; 2) a Vet living at home with a paid, outside caregiving agency providing the daily medical assistance needed.

 This can be a complicated benefit to obtain, always get your information from a few different sources.  In the last 2 1/2 years our organization has successfully secured benefits for 460 Vets / Spouses / Surviving Spouses.  No brag, just fact.

 Take care, hope this helps.

It is amazing how things happen. I was blessed to be invited to a meeting on this very topic. I did find out qualifications do have to do with four main facts

1. 65 and disabled

2. serverd at least 90days active duty, with one day during war time(do not have to be in the war), with anything but dishonarable discharge.

3 out of packet medical expenses have to be 5% above what the veterans income is

4 soluable assets(not including houses, cars or property)

The gentelman that led the meeting was from the veterans coalition who does the leg work and interviews to determin if the veteran is approved for this benefit. He gave me his business card and I am going to pass his contact info on:

Glenn Osborne

Based in Nashville TN

615-227-5808, 1-877-814-8387(toll free)

This is a free service and he is quoted as saying " the staff will be able to tell you with a 99.9% accuaracy if you will qualify.

It is definitly worth your time, care is very expensive. Good Luck

Toms GT,

The veteran did not have to serve in a war zone or overseas. The requirement is that they served "during a period of war". I strongly recommend you contact the VA at (800) 827-1000 (this number rings the VA Regional Office for the state you are in regardless of where you are) for specific information.  For help in completing the application you should really see an accredited service officer in one of the organizations recognized, and accredited, by the VA. They have a list on their web site, although it is a bit old. These service officers and organizations do not charge a fee for this service.  Although these applications can be completed by yourself it can be daunting, especially when you need to reply to requests for additional information or encounter problems.

Unfortunatly durring WWII he was in the army but did not go over sea's he was office bound here state side. I guess the part I am amzed at is from 4,500-7,500 per month in 18 months and now 24 months they want around 10,000 oer month. Her care has not increased other than she is 2 years older.

 But the amazing part is all I hear is "We are a caring family" "We want to serve" "We want to help" And then its well we are a big company and there is nothing we can do about how they charge. Frustrated.  Am I that poor ? I guess most people can afford $120,000.00 cash per year just not me. Yeah I know its tax deductible but then I would tell you I have to earn $200,000.00 B/4 taxes to pay $120,000.00[:'(]

 My only complaint it is the cost. Sunrise Shelby Michigan has a fantastic group of care givers and managers. If money is no object then I would say by all means I have seen many of them and this place is like a cruise ship on land.