Hello,
My father needs to move into a nursing home. My mom does not need care at this time and will continue to live in her apartment. They have limited resources and mainly live off of social security, so we are having my dad apply for Medicaid. In filling out the application, I realized that two mutual funds (which my grandfather purchased for me when I was a child) are under both my and my mother's name but are only associated with her social security number and not mine. Is this going to make my father's Medicaid claim get denied? We are based in NY state and there is probably $100k or so combined in the two mutual fund accounts. Thanks in advance for any advice.
"In August 1987, SSA began a three-state pilot of the "Enumeration at Birth" ( EAB ) process in which the parent of a newborn can request an SSN as part of the state's birth registration process. Additional states began to participate in EAB in July 1988."
My daughters were born before this went into effect. One is 36 the other 44. If the OP was born before this law was enacted, then Moms SS# was used for identification purposes only. The OP would have had no SS#. At one time, you did not need one until u started working for payroll purposes.
My Aunt used to give savings bonds. I am sure, at least with the oldest, my SS# was used but the bond was made out to my daughter.
but most states have it such that the community spouse (CS) which your mom is considered to be is allowed to have her own assets that are NOT included in dads as the Medicaid applicants asset list. Tends to be 128k but varies by state. I think you can kinda set this aside for the minute cause she can likely include it in her asset list if need be for his LTC Medicaid application.
HOWEVER
i think you need to have an attorney (CELA level of elder law attorney) to go over their situation before dad ever files for LTC Medicaid. The reason why is that Medicaid - when it’s a couple CS / NH situation - does a snapshot day of what their $ is as of that day. Tends to be date application signed off on. If $ needs to move or things sold or bought or paperwork changed, they need to get stuff done before the snapshot day and the atty will know what Medicaid considers ok to move.
So like if dad & mom have life insurance policies, most couples have each other as the beneficiary. But once on Medicaid bad idea….. cause if mom gets hit by a bus and dad gets her life insurance policy $, he’s off Medicaid and has to do a spend down, yada yada. Beneficiary perhaps changes to you or another sibling & you do this ahead of the application.
another usual is they have 2 cars. But LTC Medicaid allows for only 1 car. So 1 has to be sold and sold at FMV. But it might be best to turn in both and mom buys 1 newer more dependable car.
And if that means she has now a car note added to her monthly living costs and her SS $ alone is not enough for her to maintain her household, she can file for CSRA or MMNA. These 2 are resource / needs allowances that enable her to get a waiver to have some of dads monthly income, like his SS $, to be paid to her instead of having to basically all go to the NH as the required by Medicaid copay. The atty will know how to do this and do it so it’s the max. There was someone of this forum whose dad ended up only paying the NH $45 a mo copay and the rest went to the CS wife as she had extraordinarily high RX costs and heating costs and a mortgage, their atty knew how to file the documentation needed to max her Community Spouse Resource Allowance.
CS / NH couples situation is way more complicated than an individual LTC Medicaid one for a widowed elder. Each state puts its own spin on CS income / assets and what can be excluded. To me these are never a DIY, but need an atty to review.
Plus the attorney can figure out how to unthread the mutual funds snafu and do it so that it’s not an issue for Medicaid. Might need to have past years tax filings redone in the process, pull old info from grandfathers probate, stuff that is beyond the average person’s wheelhouse. The $ is there from the mutual to pay for an attorney. Good luck!
Bobby on Forum, suggests we ALWAYS top our posts in the case of financial questions and medical questions and legal questions with advising you to seek professional help, lest you listen to a lay person on a Forum somewhere and walk straight in over your head.
So please, consult the IRS. You will be on the phone a long time but get a correct answer.
I was personally told by my own accountant that if it is my SS number it is my account primarily. The situation differs from this a bit, however.
Do check this out. We understand the money was "meant" for you. However, legally that might not be the case, and yes, it would affect the medicaid.