by April Harris Jackson | Jan 23, 2021 | Money, TennCare, Tennessee Resources
At the end of 2020, Congress approved new stimulus payments for most Americans. Stimulus payments by direct deposit are already going out. The Treasury Department is sending others by check or debit cards in the mail. Under President Biden, we may see more stimulus payments coming as well.
With that in mind, let’s consider those who may have limited income and receive means-tested assistance, such as TennCare or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Those individuals or their loved ones may be concerned that the additional funds contributed to their bank account may disqualify them from benefits. However, the Social Security Administration has clearly said that stimulus payments do not count as income for means-tested assistance- at least not in the year it is received. For those receiving TennCare, you have twelve months to spend your stimulus payment.
If you care for someone in a facility, the facility may try to claim the stimulus payment on behalf of the patient. This is especially true if the facility is the Representative Payee for the patient’s Social Security check. However, the stimulus payment belongs to the patient, not the facility. It is not part of the patient liability payment for TennCare.
While a facility may request payment for debts owed before a patient received TennCare, they cannot hold stimulus payments hostage. A patient or their legal representative may agree to have the funds held in a patient trust account at the facility.
No matter who holds a stimulus payment, it must be used for the benefit of the recipient. If you care for someone who received one, consider what these funds might be used for to improve their quality of life for the year ahead.
If you have any questions about a nursing home trying to keep your loved one’s stimulus payment, book a call with us now.
by April Harris Jackson | May 16, 2019 | Family, Money, Powers of Attorney
By adding someone else to your bank account, you are giving them an ownership interest in whatever deposits you make into the account. What I often see is that the parent is the only one making deposits, but the child is handling transactions, usually to the parent’s benefit but sometimes in a way that might later be called into question.
Joint checking accounts with your children pose many issues
In the process of counseling clients, I often learn that an adult child has been added to a parent’s bank account as a joint owner. If this is something that you have been considering, please think again. While it can be fine under some circumstances, it can also cause problems down the road.
You will be responsible for your child’s unpaid debts
One danger to this is that if the adult children have an ownership interest in the account, and the child has unpaid debts, a creditor might try to collect the money owed to them out of the joint account, even though all the money belongs to Mom or Dad!
Your children will have issues with getting an equal share of your inheritance
Another sticky point of adding a child to a bank account is if you have more than one child. Often parents want their children to inherit equally and make arrangements for that through their wills or beneficiary designations. However, most joint bank accounts include a right of survivorship on the account paperwork so that if one account owner dies, the other account owner can continue using the account and gets to keep any money in the account. If you intend for your children to inherit equally, but only one of them gets the money in your bank account, that might cause some resentments and even lawsuits.
Give your children powers of attorney for finances instead
So what should you do instead? In most cases, I recommend designating someone you trust with your money to act as your attorney-in-fact for financial matters. By signing a Power of Attorney, this person will have the ability to manage your banking transactions, but will not have an ownership interest in your accounts that could cause the problems described above.
If you’re interested in obtaining a Power of Attorney or other estate planning documents, contact us to see how we can help.
