Mom gave me money as a down payment for a new home this was about a year and half before she had strokes now she is in a nursing home because she is blind and has dementia she needs round the clock care. a state guardian was appointed and now i m being told i have to pay the money back this is in Michigan i have other siblings
Medicaid requires financial documentation, so that "gifting" of $$ to you for a downpayment has shown up. And to the penny.
? for you? - why does mom have a court appointed guardian? Usually its a daughter or son who is their parents DPOA & MPOA. A guardian requires an hearings before a judge. Why wasn't it family? The court appointed guardian has a lot more powers to get things done for your mom who is their ward. They can get all sorts of banking & tax info and pull real property records easily from the state. I'd be concerned that IF you do not return the $ or work out a payment plan to the NH for mom's care, that you could be charged with some sort of elder abuse or financial exploration of an elder. This stuff gets serious fast. Calmly and clearly find out from the guardian what the transfer penalty is looking like for your mom and then how you are going to pay for this. If mom gifted to others, they too will have to work something out.
The idea is that Medicaid is supposed to be a safety net where taxpayer money is used to provide care for someone who has exhausted all of their funds and is not broke.
In order to protect the taxpayer from people giving all of their money away and then claiming to be broke, Medicaid will take a look at the five years prior and if any money was given away, it will have to be reimbursed and use for the elderly person's care before taxpayer money can be used.
This has nothing to do with if you have siblings or about what happens to the money after her death. If she gave you money in the five years before she asks the taxpayers to pay for her care, it has to be paid back.
Now, if that was not your question and you are asking about what happens to this money after she dies, that would all depend on her will and if you signed a promissory note. But I doubt her guardian is talking about that.