My 86 year old husband has dementia (diagnosed). He's moderate at this point but progressively getting worse. Both our names are on our mortgage but only his is on the car. We do not have long term care insurance. If I can no longer care for him and must put him in full time care, will medicaid require us to sell the house and car? If he passes while in care, will I have to then sell the house and pay my portion as well as his? We live in NM...a community property state, so half the proceeds from the house would come to me. However, based on what some of you have said, since I have POV, I will be responsible to pay any medicaid recovery upon his passing (assuming he passes before I do, though I do not take that for granted.) Any suggestions on how to protect my portion of the house? Thanks for whatever you can tell me.
1. Get with a Resource Options Coordinator who, according to the NM Aging & Long Term Service Department, "can help you weigh your choices and help connect you to programs and services." 1-800-432-2080
2. Their website (aging.nm.gov) also has a Person-Centered Planning Tool that covers all aspects of care including legal and financial.
Best wishes to you and hubby
The advice JoAnn29 gave you is a generic overview of what happens. But states can have different "look back" periods on the financial portion of the Medicaid app (can be anywhere from 2.5 to 5 years) which means as your husband's FPoA you need to manage his finances in a particular way in order to never delay or disqualify him.
Different states' Medicaid covers different levels of care: a very few may cover AL and maybe MC, and most/all states cover LTC (which is medically assessed by a doctor and usually means the person is bedridden or profoundly physically ill/disabled.)
Any facility you seek to transition him into will need to accept Medicaid recipients so this is the first question to ask them when researching.
You need a good understanding of how to do division of assets. For how to get yourself on the title to the car. For how to protect finances. For what happens at end of his life (should he pass first the home will not be taken from you. Any clawback would happen at point of sale of the home. You/he are allowed a home and a car and can still qualify for Medicaid. That is my understanding, but you need MORE than MY understanding. You need a good attorney to guide you now.
I wish you the best. Stay on the Forum. Look up topics from the timeline and educate yourself as much as you are able as to the laws regarding medicaid (a joint state/federal program) for your state (each state varies.) This is a long and tough learning curve and I wish you the best, but you ALSO need expert guidance.
Recently a person who contributes on Forum mentioned using an aginglife professional (www.aginglife.org) with a fee of about 120.00 an hour who helped enormously. Alz.org may have good suggestions. Go to Facebook and join groups which are often loaded with info.
Wishing you great good luck.