There are many different types of qualified retirement accounts, such as IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, Keoghs, TSAs, etc. The differences between them are mainly in their origination, but they all share distinctive characteristics of tax deferral and taxation of withdrawals.

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California has very good protections for retirement accounts. For accounts held by the community spouse, the retirement account is automatically protected.  When held by an single Medi-Cal applicant/recipient, the account is only protected if structured properly.  Any distributions from the retirement plan may have to be contributed as part of the patient's Share of Cost.

At the Law Offices of James Dolenga, we have strategies to help protect qualified retirement accounts from the spenddown. We balance both the tax and Medi-Cal spenddown issues to give a client the maximum protection of the asset possible from both taxes and the Medi-Cal spenddown.

If you are facing a Medi-Cal spenddown and are worried you might have to spend down your qualified retirement account, contact us for a free consultation.

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