FAQs

A large number of firms and lawyers advertise their estate planning services and hold themselves out as estate planning attorneys.  It can be difficult to distinguish between lawyers who seem to be offering the same services.   We hope the following two factors are involved in your selection of an attorney to guide you through the estate planning process.

First, in deciding who to engage for your estate planning needs, consider whether that attorney or law firm specializes in estate planning or merely includes it among a long list of practice areas.  Attorneys can only be highly knowledgeable and experienced in a few limited areas.  The more types of law an attorney practices, the less likely it is that the attorney is an expert in any of them.  There are several firms in the Liberty and Kansas City area that specialize in estate planning.  They would be good places to start.  For example, Brett Fulkerson at Fulkerson Estate Planning and Elder Law LLC practices exclusively in the areas of Estate Planning, Elder Law and Special Needs.  There is significant overlap in these three areas of law as all three generally involve a component of estate planning.  Brett doesn’t handle divorces, bankruptcy, criminal law, personal injury or a host of other legal matters.  He practice Estate Planning, Elder Law and Special Needs.  That’s it.  Whether you ultimately engage Fulkerson Estate Planning and Elder Law LLC for your estate planning needs, we hope you will entrust your estate planning to an attorney who specializes in designing and drafting estate plans rather than letting a jack-of-all-trades handle such an important matter. 

Second, in deciding who to engage for your estate planning needs, consider an attorney who not only specializes in Estate Planning but also has experience in Elder Law and Special Needs.  Most of us that practice Elder Law and Special Needs started out as Estate Planning attorneys and expanded our practices to include these related but more complex areas.  Elder Law and Special Needs attorneys offer not only traditional estate planning guidance and plans but we can also design estate plans that incorporate strategies and provisions that provide for Medicaid asset protection or facilitate future long-term care eligibility and planning.  Brett Fulkerson started his Estate Planning practice in 2005 and added Elder Law and Special Needs Planning in 2011.  He can handle all of your Estate Planning needs and he can also recognize and recommend whether you should add Elder Law or Special Needs components to your plan.   Fulkerson Estate Planning and Elder Law LLC would like to be the firm you turn to for your estate planning needs.  But if not us, we suggest finding another qualified Estate Planning Attorney who also specializes in Elder Law and Special Needs who can not only provide you traditional estate plans but can incorporate long-term care or special needs planning options into your estate plan if needed.

A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT) is an irrevocable trust designed to hold assets that the grantor wants to protect from being counted for Missouri or Kansas long-term care Medicaid eligibility. Because it is irrevocable, the grantor gives up control over the assets placed inside it. In exchange, after the applicable look-back period has passed (60 months in both states for nursing home Medicaid), the assets in the trust are generally not counted against the grantor’s Medicaid eligibility. A Revocable Living Trust (RLT) is fundamentally different: the grantor retains full control, can amend or revoke the trust, and the assets inside remain fully countable for Medicaid purposes. A MAPT is a long-term planning tool for people who want to preserve assets while accepting the trade-off of irrevocability. On the other hand, a RLT is an excellent estate planning tool but provides no Medicaid asset protection.

For 2026, a single applicant for Missouri nursing home Medicaid (MO HealthNet for the Aged, Blind, and Disabled) generally must have countable assets of $6,068.80 or less. For married couples where both spouses are applying, the combined asset limit is $12,137.55. When only one spouse is applying and the other spouse remains in the community, the non-applicant spouse (the “community spouse”) may retain half of the couple’s countable assets up to a maximum of $162,660 under the Community Spouse Resource Allowance. Income limits and treatment are more complicated and depend on the specific program (Nursing Home Medicaid, the Aged and Disabled Waiver, or ABD Medicaid), but substantially all of a nursing home resident’s income generally must go toward the cost of care, with specific exceptions for a personal needs allowance, Medicare and most health insurance premiums, and a possible income allowance for a community spouse. These figures are updated periodically by federal and state rule and should be re-verified before relying on them.

Medicare is federal health insurance that generally covers people age 65 and older and certain disabled individuals. Medicare provides limited coverage for skilled nursing facility care — typically up to 100 days following a qualifying hospital stay, and only for skilled rehabilitation, not custodial long-term care. Medicare does not pay for ongoing nursing home care for someone who needs help with activities of daily living but does not need active rehabilitation. Medicaid (called MO HealthNet in Missouri) is a needs-based program jointly funded by the state and federal government that does pay for long-term nursing home care and certain home- and community-based services, but only for people who meet the program’s asset and income limits. The two programs are often confused because many seniors qualify for both, but they serve very different functions. Most long-term care in nursing homes is paid for either by the resident privately, by Medicaid, or by long-term care insurance — rarely by Medicare.