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Kmcortez Asked March 2013

Can the nursing home take my dad's retirement?

I am receiving my dad's retirement to take care of his finances and pay unpaid bills. Can the nursing home take his retirement?

lafish60 Aug 2015
My husband is in a nursing home get disability retirement from the state, he was hurt over 20 yrs ago on the job.Im his wife living and working in the community. Huband has been approved for medicaid.They have not taken his check.They mail me a bill each moth for 1625.00 his share.Why dont they handle his check and is this leal,my husband once told me creditors cant touch his disability retirement from the state of mass. is thid true?

jeannegibbs Mar 2013
Taking care of someone's finances can get complicated, can't it? It is a bigger job than most of us realize until/unless we are in that spot.

My take on this is that you need to pay the nursing home out of Dad's retirement income. If that makes some of his other bills overdue so be it. When the land sells you will use that money for his needs, including paying off debts and anything he owes to the nursing home that you weren't able to fully pay from his retirement. (That is not legal advice, and I am not a financial expert. Paying first for where he lives and gets his care just seems logical to me.)

Once he is on Medicaid, his retirement income will all go to the nursing home, and Medicaid will pay the rest. He will get a small monthly allowance as set by the state . I've heard these vary from $30 to $90 per month.

You may benefit from talking to a lawyer specializing in Elder Law.

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Kmcortez Mar 2013
I have the land on the market. Yes I have Power of Attorney, that shows that I handle all of his finance

jeannegibbs Mar 2013
Has the land been sold? Unless you signed something with the nursing home saying you would take financial responsibility then it isn't you who needs to be able to afford this ... it needs to come out of your Dad's income or assets. So, yes, Dad's retirement needs to be used to pay the nursing home. I would say that is the first unpaid bill you should be concerned about.

Kmcortez Mar 2013
My dad was on medicare/medicaid, he had land in his name so they denied him. Now he is paying private care, which I can't afford. He is behind on bills until the medicaid kicks in.

jeannegibbs Mar 2013
The nursing home is interested in getting paid. They generally don't care where the money comes from, as long as they receive the specified amount on time.

Is your Dad self-pay or on Medicaid (or some other program)? Is the nursing home being paid on time every month?

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