What is divestment?
Divestment is defined as the selling off or otherwise disposing of a subsidiary company or an existing investment. Around the country, university students and faculty are demanding that their respective institution divest from the racist regime in Israel. Historically, the divestment campaign began as a campus political movement in the 1980’s with the rise against the apartheid in South Africa. Students protested their university relationships with the racist South African government by demanding an end to all economic support in any company that invested in South Africa, as well as those companies that had racist hiring policies. It was a means to end all financial backing of the White South African government’s oppression, brutality and racism against the Black indigenous population. Divestment became a way to rouse student and faculty support on college campuses across the country. Today, students, faculty and concerned residents of the state on New Jersey demand that Rutgers Univer
Divestment, simply put, is a transfer of an asset where you do not get full value in return for the asset transferred. Giving money or other assets to your kids will be considered a divestment. Often we get the question: what about the $12,000 per year that I am allowed to transfer? That $12,000 is an annual exclusion amount that refers to gift tax issues and has no bearing on the Medicaid rules. Similarity, transferring assets to a charity may also be considered a divestment. Forgiving a debt is yet another form of divestment that will get some people in trouble. Why should you care about divestments? During the Medicaid application review process, each and every divestment that appears on the financial records will be assessed a penalty. Too many poorly planned divestments, or an inappropriately timed Medicaid application, could result in an excessively long ineligibility period. How to strategically plan the divestments to accomplish your asset protection goals is one of the most im
