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Depends on where you live, and if you have taken legal means, far in advance (used to be 5 years, now I think 7), to move the home out of the ownership of the elderly person.
Many years ago I consulted an elder care attorney after my father reached his late 60s, hoping to prevent the home from being confiscated by the state in case he eventually needed long-term nursing home care (turns out he passed away just as his life savings ran out, making the preparations meaningless). After about 100 days under Medicare, you must pay FULL price for nursing home care--costing over $6,500 a month at the time in NH. This cost continues until you run through your life savings. If you have a house, I think you have to sell it and give the money to the nursing home before Medicaid kicks in.
I asked the elder care attorney about how aggressively the States go after the assets of the elderly person. He told me that NH has an incredibly high rate of confiscation of assets, in the 95% range--and it will not hesitate to put people in jail for trying to hide or otherwise preserve confiscation. Scary stuff. But then again, in the future there is no way the federal government absorb the absurd level of nursing home costs for the entire Baby Boom.
Hell, the federal government is so grossly mismanaged that they have no money put aside for the Social Security of the Baby Boom, and now the working class is too destroyed to tax enough to support that program. We're broke now and just waiting for the sound of the explosion to hit our ears.
Not knowing what the future holds for any of us, including our children, is why I'm looking into a trust for the house.
Don't know if the laws are different state to state, but in California just do a "Trust Transfer Deed". The house transfer from you (the legal owner) to the Trust. My Mom and I did this after my Dad passed away in 2001. It was a one-page document, and took about 15 minutes with the lawyer.
Don't know if the laws are different state to state, but in California just do a "Trust Transfer Deed". The house transfer from you (the legal owner) to the Trust. My Mom and I did this after my Dad passed away in 2001. It was a one-page document, and took about 15 minutes with the lawyer.
Thank you; I'll look into this possibility. The rich use loopholes, so should we. Otherwise the government will take everything you have, one way or another.
But i hate to see that this thread has come to whether if all you have left is your house and a few possessions - it's ok to try to keep them or not...
If you're talking about people who need to keep their homes because they're discharged from an ALC or nursing home, that's one thing. I'm wholeheartedly opposed to government seizing a house from a living homeowner who had a temporary stay in a center. Does this happen? If so, I'll support any movement to stop/prevent it.
What I'm addressing is the more common event: a homeowner who's admitted to a center and never returns to their home, resulting in the sale of the house (by the estate heirs) or seizure by the state to offset the taxpayer cost for care.
My contention is that the heirs are no more entitled to the estate proceeds than are the taxpayers who funded the person's care. If you disagree, please make your argument, I'm honestly willing to be persuaded otherwise.
My contention is that the heirs are no more entitled to the estate proceeds than are the taxpayers who funded the person's care. If you disagree, please make your argument, I'm honestly willing to be persuaded otherwise.
This should be fun. I think I've heard all of the arguments, but who knows?
^^I don't' know that whether one sells the house for value or not will have much to do with it. You're selling the house to private pay the nursing home for as long as that money lasts, right?
One can be approved for Medicaid when one's funds are exhausted -- spent down.
Each state has different asset limited for qualification, and the length of approval process also varies.
(ALL WHO POST: PLEASE NOTE THIS IS AN OLD THREAD. BUT THE ABOVE QUESTION IN POST 58 IS NEW, AND JUST ADDED TO THIS THREAD.)
Be carefull with any trust that is revocable. They will hurt you as far as medicaid protection.
A home is protected under federal law two ways.
The value of the home is not counted as an asset that has to be spent down in order to first qualify for medicaid. Read this again , it is key to what the issue becomes.
The other protection is the house can't be taken as long as you think you can return one day or have a spouse in it until all die. However if medical opinion is that you will never be able to return then the house can be taken if no spouse is in it.
To have this protection the house must be held in personal name only not in the name of any revocable trust.
Now while the house in the trust can not be taken by medicaid since it does not go through probate there is a problem.
The dollar value of the house goes from not countable as an asset to now being counted as an asset. It may now put you over medicaids general asset limit and just to qualify you have to sell the house and spend the money down on care to get you first dime from medicaid.
This burns folks all the time when they go to a lawyer who is not well versed in elder care and put the house in some kind of revocable trust or deed in trust
Last edited by mathjak107; 09-15-2016 at 07:58 AM..
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