My mother gave my brother her home so she could qualify for Medicaid to pay for nursing home cost. They did not wait the required 5 yrs, only waited a few months. He then sold the house 2 yrs later. Was fraud committed? And if so, since my mother is now passed, is my brother in danger of being charged with fraud?
It was 2019 or even before that? And mom actually legally transferred the ownership of a home she owned outright to your brother, so that it’s recorded at the courthouse as his, his name on tax bill, etc.
Mom went onto LTC Medicaid and you absolutely know for sure that neither mom or brother private paid for any of her stay at the NH?
Is this all correct?
if so and nothing has happened, it’ll guess 1 of 4 things happened…
- either Nebraska LTC Medicaid didn’t spot the “gifting” at the time of application and Nebraska MERP (estate recovery) didnt as well. Which I so doubt happened for both of these entities.
OR
- there is something about mom’s Medicaid application & her assets at the time of the application that had an exemption &/or took it beyond any recovery. Like mom was under 55 at the time of the application so looks at assets differently and no recovery; or your brother as the erstwhile heir is himself special needs or disease category so able to have the property transferred to him with no issues.
OR
- Covid caused the State & MERP to suspend reviews
OR
- your brother is lying to you.
Finding out the exact details on property is pretty easy to do. If you want to find out exactly what has happened with moms house, you can go online or in person to the county land / Tax rolls office and for a fee download all the recording on the property since forever & to today. Wealth of information. It’s simple & straightforward to do.
I’ve got to ask, it’s been over 2 years, why are you now almost at the end of 2021 concerned on this? Were you ever her POA or mentioned in her will to be Executor?
The only way I can see brother would get in trouble would be if Mom listed the house on her application. Not sure how Medicaid would find out when she turned her house over before she went on Medicaid, right. They would to need she had owned a house.
If your brother was the POA or contact on the NH records, he will get a letter asking if Mom had any assets at time of her death. The answer would be no. Did they fraud Medicaid, that depends if they knew what they were doing. Seems they didn't know that a house is an exempt asset until death.
This all falls on your brother in the end if Medicaid finds there was a house that could have been sold to pay Moms care. Just curious, how much did the house sell for?