The guy at the barbershop said his sister-in-law's mother's best-friend gave all of her assets to her kids. Should I do the same thing?

It is amazing how much legal advice is dispensed in barbershops and beauty parlors!  Unfortunately, much of this advice is just plain wrong.  Whenever you divest assets, great care must be taken to make sure that it does not render you ineligible for Medicaid benefits.  More than any other type of estate planning, a good tong-term care plan must be individually tailored to fit your family and your assets.

The key to good estate planning is to keep you in as much control of your life and your property as possible.  If you give all of your property to your children, you risk losing it to your children’s creditors, to their spouses should they divorce, and to anyone else who sues them.  Effective long-term care planning will protect your assets by keeping you in control of them instead of putting them at risk.  You should only consider divesting your assets when done as part of a carefully crafted estate plan that is developed with the assistance of a qualified attorney,  a well-designed individualized plan will allow you to stay in control of your property as long as you want and transfer it to your loved ones only when you are ready.