Setting up an Irrevocable Funeral Trust (IFT)
Florida.
I have just been given DPOA for my brother who is in rehab on SSI and in the process of transferring to LTC which will then place him on Medicaid. I’ve submitted all of the Medicaid documents and application with the facility and just got access to his bank account.
He has one account with $4000+ in it that I need to bring down to $2000. We already set up a $2500 “burial expenses account” with his bank. I would prefer to not have to waste the extra $2000+ on unnecessary spend.
I’ve read about moving money to an “irrevocable funeral trust” and was pretty sure I read that a bank can initiate the trust which would allow some flexibility as opposed to a funeral home and prepurchasing services with a specific business.
A lawyer setting up the trust seems like the fees would end up taking most of the amount needed to put in.
Has anyone set up an IFT at a bank? Did I misunderstand that capability, as the bank we use told me I would need a lawyer to set up the IFT.
If you’ve set up an IFT, what did you do?