Just who told you that you would "loose your house"?
Medicaid rules by & large allow for the applicant to have their home & a car as an exempt asset. If the house is owned 50/50 by yourself & your mother and your mom has used the home as her homestead (not as an investment property), then it is exempt from Medicaid for mom's lifetime. When mom dies, then MERP - Medicaid Estate Recovery Program - can place a claim or a lien on the 50% of the property owned by your mom. But MERP has all kinds of exemptions & exclusions, which I bet you will qualify for so a MERP claim or lien will not be done. Please google your state's Medicaid program to see just what assets exemptions are allowed & how MERP runs in your state.
Now what seems to happen & is a whole other issue, is IF you have been taking care of your mom in the house that is owned by your both AND you have been relying on mom's income (like her SS & retirement) to make ends meet. You as the caretaker do not have an outside job or other income. If mom has to move to a NH and applies to Medicaid to pay for the NH, then under Medicaid rules, mom has to do a co-pay of almost all of her monthly income to the NH as her co-pay (also called the "SOC" - share of cost). She will be allowed a smallish personal needs allowance (from $ 35 - 90 a month). There will be no - none - zero of mom's money to pay anything on the house anymore. So you will fully have to pay for everything (taxes, insurance, maintenance, utilities, etc) for both your 50% as well as mom's 50% for the rest of mom's lifetime. If there is a regular mortgage on the home, this could run into a lot of $$$ each month that you have to pay. Can you do that financially for possibly the many, many years mom could still be living?? If not, then you likely will have to sell the house. You keep your 50% of the proceeds from the sale but mom's 50% will have to be used for spend down before Medicaid will pay.
But in general they do not have to sell the house, if family can pay for everything on the home from now till death and then have the ability to document the costs for both MERP and probate, family could get the house after death.
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Medicaid rules by & large allow for the applicant to have their home & a car as an exempt asset. If the house is owned 50/50 by yourself & your mother and your mom has used the home as her homestead (not as an investment property), then it is exempt from Medicaid for mom's lifetime. When mom dies, then MERP - Medicaid Estate Recovery Program - can place a claim or a lien on the 50% of the property owned by your mom. But MERP has all kinds of exemptions & exclusions, which I bet you will qualify for so a MERP claim or lien will not be done. Please google your state's Medicaid program to see just what assets exemptions are allowed & how MERP runs in your state.
Now what seems to happen & is a whole other issue, is IF you have been taking care of your mom in the house that is owned by your both AND you have been relying on mom's income (like her SS & retirement) to make ends meet. You as the caretaker do not have an outside job or other income. If mom has to move to a NH and applies to Medicaid to pay for the NH, then under Medicaid rules, mom has to do a co-pay of almost all of her monthly income to the NH as her co-pay (also called the "SOC" - share of cost). She will be allowed a smallish personal needs allowance (from $ 35 - 90 a month). There will be no - none - zero of mom's money to pay anything on the house anymore. So you will fully have to pay for everything (taxes, insurance, maintenance, utilities, etc) for both your 50% as well as mom's 50% for the rest of mom's lifetime. If there is a regular mortgage on the home, this could run into a lot of $$$ each month that you have to pay. Can you do that financially for possibly the many, many years mom could still be living?? If not, then you likely will have to sell the house. You keep your 50% of the proceeds from the sale but mom's 50% will have to be used for spend down before Medicaid will pay.
But in general they do not have to sell the house, if family can pay for everything on the home from now till death and then have the ability to document the costs for both MERP and probate, family could get the house after death.
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