There are many changes to Medi-Cal which will occur when the “Deficity Reduction Act signed into law by President Bush in February, 2002 is implemented in California:
Q. Under the old Medi-Cal rules, a Medi-Cal applicant could freely transfer his or her home to a child who had lived in the parent’s house for at least two years and had provided care allowing the parent to avoid a nursing home stay. Does this still apply under the new law?
A. Yes, that provision is not affected by the new law. But don’t fall into the trap some care-taker children fall into. They believe that simply by virtue of “qualifying” as a caretaker child the home is protected. They can have an unpleasant surprise when the parent dies because there’s no protection from estate recovery at that point. This is a real problem with the law. The house must be transferred to the caretaker child during the parent’s life in order for it to avoid a claim by the state upon the parent’s death.
On Estates:
• The Problem: Getting access to the email account of a family member after they die.
The Solution: Most big email providers turn accounts over to next of kin, with sufficient proof. Google’s Gmail requires copies of the death certificate, the document giving you the power to act on behalf of the decedent and the full header of an email sent to you from the account. Microsoft’s Hotmail will provide the deceased’s email on to those who can show they are next of kin; fax 650-693-7061 for details. AOL has similar requirements. Yahoo won’t provide access without a court order, citing its user agreement that protects users’ privacy even after death.
If you’d like survivors to see your email, leave passwords where they can be found—a safe deposit box, for example, or computer file encrypted with a password they will figure out.
• The Caveat: Free email accounts often vanish if they aren’t used, sometimes within as little as a month.
Ms. Macdonald’s practice is limited to Estate Planning, Probate & Elder Law. Ms. MacDonald maintains her practice in the Santa Clarita Valley at 27013 Langside Avenue, Suite A, Santa Clarita. She can be reached at 661-251-1300.