UAW Legal Services Plan

The UAW Legal Services Plan is the largest pre-paid legal services program in the country.

Plan staff attorneys are represented by AFSCME and support staff are represented by OPEIU.

Highlighted Plan Attorney of the Month

The Plan’s managing and staff attorneys are a diverse group of lawyers, all dedicated to providing the highest quality of legal representation and personalized service to Plan Participants. Since our lawyers do not practice outside of their Plan jobs, they are able to devote all of their working time to the needs of Participants and their families. Many of them participate in outreach and educational activities such as UAW pre-retirement sessions and benefit fairs. All are well-qualified and receive ongoing training and supervision in their areas of practice.

Medicaid continued

The gifting technique has been made more difficult by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA), a federal law signed by President Bush on February 8, 2006. Generally, the DRA now allows Medicaid to look back five years instead of three to find property transfers that would trigger the disqualification period. It also starts the disqualification period from the time the applicant enters the nursing home rather than from the date of the transfer as was done previously. As they were intended, these new rules could eliminate most gifting as a Medicaid planning strategy. Other provisions of the DRA also have a major impact on Medicaid planning.

Notwithstanding the new rules, there are still strategies senior citizens can use to save some of their assets and qualify for Medicaid nursing home benefits. Some are specific to certain states and most require careful planning with the help of an attorney experienced in this area. In addition to typical estate planning tools such as wills and trusts, the Plan provides counseling on Medicaid issues including advice on qualifying for Medicaid nursing home benefits.

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