Abraham Lincoln
Thomas Jefferson
Henry Ford
Walt Disney
Milton Hershey (of Hershey’s chocolates)
Burt Reynolds
Wolfgang Amadeus
Mark Twain
Wayne Newton (OMG How RICH is that dude, now? So rich thanks Las Vegas! google says $100 Million)
Stan Lee

and a ton of others…..

If Trump, (and many many other people) can claim bankruptcy and continue on, your grandfather should consider it if it is equally appropriate for his situation.

I don’t know exactly how these things work (at all), but my wild guess would say that your grandfather might be able to create a trust, and then file for bankruptcy. This requires planning, and the help of a financial planner, I would think (if it is even possible).

Since a majority of these bills were incurred due to medical bills, this seems to me a logical course of action (assuming it is legal & legit). Morally, I would find this unobjectionable (although goodness knows, money and morals do not always walk hand-in-glove), I mean it’s not like your grandparents drank and gambled themselves into financial peril, and should have to suffer the consequences. I don’t think the intent of our financial system is to impoverish people. Although that has too often been the way our healthcare system works.

Still though, “sheltering money” is a whole huge industry. There’s no reason that I can see that it should apply exclusively to the rich (ie. those who hire professionals skilled in this area of expertise).

There are definite senior citizen considerations – I know, for one, that medicaid (not medicare) has a look-back period, and I don’t know how that will (or will not) change under the new healthcare.

But my point here is that people with resources hire other people to make the most financially sound decisions, and those people they hire are very knowledgeable about how to protect wealth. I would look into what can be done at this point to maximize your grandparents situation financially. Spending what remaining recources they have left down doesn’t seem to me like the wisest (or only) course of action. It’s good to pay your bills, but if you (at some near future point) aren’t going to pay your bills anyway, you’re still ultimately not paying your bills. Sometimes you can’t. That’s what bankruptcy is for, that the sole reason why it exists.

I know these things are really tricky, but I’d at least talk to someone, or ask around to see if I could get any information.

From the web:

“A major reason to delay a bankruptcy filing is that it might affect certain property or asset transfers you make, and so it may affect your overall case. For instance, if you transfer property and then, soon after, file for bankruptcy, a bankruptcy trustee can set aside or void these transfers. The amount of time that passed after transferring property is important!

The trustee can set aside or void the following transfers if you file too soon:

You intentionally transferred, destroyed or mutilated property within one year of the filing to defraud or cheat your creditors
You made payments to some creditors but not to others within a prescribed time period
You fraudulently transferred property within two years of the bankruptcy filing
You purchased luxury goods and services within 90 days of filing for bankruptcy
When a transfer is set aside, the trustee may take the property back or demand payment for its value from the person you transferred it to. The property or money then can be used to pay off your creditors.”

You can read more about it here: http://benefits.va.gov/pension/

This piece was wonderful, by the way.

This was a great article that brought back many fond memories of two people who I wish were still here. Thank you very much for writing this.

Have you and your parents made any plans about what you are going to do to support your grand parents after they run out of money?

* Goes to dry eyes*