My mother, myself and my sister all are on the deed to the home I have lived in for over 20 years. My mother lives elsewhere with my father. She is now entering a nursing home permanently and will be applying for Medicaid within a few months. Can Medicaid take my home as she owns a third of it because my father does not live in the home with me?
reasons are that the degree that her monthly income gets paid to the NH will be interdependent on what dad may need to live in the community. All thier assets get looked at, if they have over 120k non exempt for most states, they are going to have to spend down their assets. It’s complicated.
Like if she has 1/3 ownership of the property & she has it as her homestead, then Medicaid looks upon it as an exempt asset for her lifetime and then becomes a non exempt asset of her estate. So you & Sissy would need to deal with Estate Recovery and it’s maze of exemptions, exclusions to get beyond a possible Medicaid cloud on the title of the property due to her 1/3 ownership.
BUT if its not her homestead, as she lives with hubs and that place is her homestead, then it’s a nonexempt asset with a 1/3 property value that will likely have her ineligible for Medicaid till sold with the proceeds of the sale used for a spend down till she’s impoverished for Medicaid and hubs is within CS asset limits. It’s complicated. If you & Sissy have been paying all of moms 1/3 property costs, I’d suggest you do a tally of all this going back 3 years to discuss with the attorney along with last 3 tax assessor bills along with any assessor bill on the property they live in if in their name or just his name.
If mom did the 1/3 as an investment, you may just be stuck having to buy her out at FMV or appraisal value. Legit appraisal (registered & licensed appraiser) even if lower value can pass Medicaid scrutiny. Talk with the atty as how to do this properly.
If if there’s anything needed to be done, it all has to happen BEFORE she ever files a Medicaid application. Try to gather up documentation and see atty before end of summer. Good luck.