Elder Law Attorney
An elder law attorney helps you plan for the cost of care before it arrives, so a nursing home bill does not quietly consume the home and savings you meant to leave your family. Medicaid planning and asset protection for Long Island since 2006.
Why the Timing of Your Plan Matters More Than the Plan
Long-term care across Suffolk and Nassau County is expensive enough to drain a lifetime of savings in a few years, and Medicaid is how most families ultimately pay for it. But Medicaid looks backward at what you gave away before you applied, and that look-back window is the single most important thing to understand before you move a dollar. Move the tool below to see how it works.
The Medicaid Look-Back, Visualized
Which kind of care you need changes the rules entirely. Pick one to see the current New York look-back.
Nursing home Medicaid: a full 5-year look-back
When someone applies for nursing home Medicaid in New York, the state reviews every asset transfer from the previous 60 months. Gifts or below-value transfers in that window can trigger a penalty period of ineligibility. This rule is fully active today, which is why gifting the house to the kids the year before a nursing home stay usually backfires.
This tool is a general illustration, not legal or eligibility advice. New York's 60-month nursing home look-back is in effect now. A separate 30-month look-back for Community Medicaid has been authorized but, as of 2026, is not yet being enforced, and that status can change. Your actual situation depends on facts only a consultation can sort out.
Protecting the Home and Savings, Legally
Elder law is not about hiding money. It is about using the tools New York law provides, early enough that they work, so care gets paid for without wiping out everything you built.
Plan Ahead of the Window
The single biggest lever is time. Transfers made and trusts funded well before care is needed can fall outside the look-back entirely. Waiting until a health crisis narrows the options to the few that still work under pressure.
Use an Irrevocable Trust
A properly drafted Medicaid asset protection trust can hold the home and other assets so they are shielded, while you keep the right to live in the house. This is where the irrevocable side of trust planning earns its place.
Protect the Healthy Spouse
When one spouse needs care and the other does not, New York's spousal rules let the community spouse keep a protected share of income and assets. Structured correctly, a couple does not have to go broke for one of them to qualify.
Even in a Crisis, Options Remain
If care is needed now and nothing was done in advance, it is not too late. Crisis Medicaid planning uses promissory notes, spend-down strategies, and exempt transfers to save a meaningful portion of what is left.
Can They Take the House?
It is the question almost every family asks first, and the honest answer is: often, no, not if you plan. The family home is the asset most people fear losing to a nursing home, and it is also the one New York law gives the most tools to protect.
While you are receiving care, the home can be exempt from Medicaid's asset count in several situations. The bigger risk comes later, through estate recovery, when the state seeks repayment from the estate after death. That is the exposure a Medicaid asset protection trust is built to close.
The catch is the same one that runs through all of elder law: the strongest protections need time to season before care begins. A home placed in the right trust years ahead is far better protected than one the family scrambles to move after a diagnosis.
When the plan does involve the house, our real estate practice handles the deed work in-house, so the elder law strategy and the property transfer are done by the same firm, correctly, the first time.
Elder Law Never Works Alone
Power of Attorney
A gift-authorized power of attorney is essential to elder law, letting a trusted agent carry out planning moves if you no longer can.
Wills and Trusts
The irrevocable trust at the center of Medicaid planning is trust work. Your will and estate plan get coordinated around it.
Full Estate Plan
Elder law is one piece of protecting your legacy. We fit it into a complete estate plan so nothing is left exposed.
Elder Law FAQ
When should I start planning for long-term care?
As early as you reasonably can. Because New York's nursing home Medicaid look-back reaches back five years, the protections that work best need time to season before care is needed. Planning in your sixties or early seventies, while healthy, opens options that a crisis closes. That said, it is never too late to save something.
Can you help me qualify for Medicaid?
Yes. We handle both the planning and the application: structuring assets to meet New York's eligibility rules, preparing and filing the Medicaid application, and documenting transfers so the review goes smoothly. Getting the application right the first time matters, because errors cause delays when care is already underway.
Can I protect my home from being used to pay for care?
In many cases, yes. The home is often exempt while you are receiving care, and a Medicaid asset protection trust can shield it from estate recovery after death, provided it is set up early enough. We look at your timeline and design the protection that actually fits it.
What is the Medicaid look-back period in New York?
For nursing home Medicaid, New York reviews the 60 months before your application for gifts or below-value transfers, and that rule is in force today. A 30-month look-back for Community Medicaid home care has been authorized but, as of 2026, is not yet being enforced. Because that can change, planning should account for the possibility rather than assume it never arrives.
Do you work with families as well as the individual?
Almost always. Elder law decisions ripple through a whole family, so we regularly sit down with the client and their adult children together to coordinate care, powers of attorney, and the financial plan. Everyone leaves understanding the plan and their role in it.
The Best Time to Plan Was Years Ago. The Second Best Is Now.
One free consultation shows you what can still be protected, whether you are planning ahead or already facing a care decision.
Talk to an Elder Law Attorney
Fill out the form and we will reach out to schedule your free consultation, or call 631-964-4418.