If you have practiced business law for a decade or more, you may have experienced a noticeable shift in the demographics of your clients who own small businesses. Between 1972—the year the US Census Bureau began providing data on all woman-owned businesses—and 2019, the number of woman-owned businesses tripled. In recent years, this trend has accelerated. From 2007, the year of the Great Recession, to 2019, the number of woman-owned businesses grew by 58 percent. Forty-two percent of all businesses were woman-owned in 2019, compared to 4.6 percent in 1972. Nearly all (99.9 percent) woman-owned businesses are small businesses. Despite their growth in number and rate of success, woman-owned small businesses experience more challenges, such as less access to financing and slower growth, than businesses owned by men.

When someone needs long-term care and applies for Medicaid benefits, there is a look-back period. The Medicaid agency will look back a number of months immediately preceding the otherwise eligible date, which is usually when the applicant is institutionalized and has submitted a Medicaid application. For California, the look-back period is thirty months; for all other states, the look-back period is sixty months.

If the applicant made transfers for less than fair market value during the look-back period, then the assumption is that the transfers were made in order to qualify for Medicaid services by getting the applicant’s resources down to the pertinent individual resource allowance. Then, the applicant would be assessed a penalty period, where they would not be eligible for benefits for a certain period of time. However, the applicant can rebut this assumption by showing the assets were transferred for some other purpose than to qualify for Medicaid long-term care services. One way the applicant can try and rebut the assumption is to show that they were not sick and in need of care when the transfers were made, thus they were not contemplating Medicaid eligibility. Another way would be to show a habit of gifting before Medicaid was needed.