If I received a gift worth $10,000 will Medicaid seize it?

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P

PrettyGood Asked September 2014

If I received a gift worth $10,000 will Medicaid seize it?

I have a very nefarious sibling who is POA for parents. Dad has dementia. Mom is so busy taking care of Dad, she hardly gets any sleep.

Anyhow, (see my other posts), their POA is my older sister who is constantly trying to come out "ahead" even if that means putting me down. We had a come-to-Jesus meeting with Mom, her attorney, POA (on Skype), me, and my attorney.

I gained a minor victory when Sis (POA) backed down on her crazy idea I should accept an old motor home in lieu of a share of the estate after they died. (I spent a dozen hours and found a dealer to pay $18K for it, whew!).

However, my Mom (in the process of their large house move-out) gave me a gift of property worth about $10,000. It was all signed by Sis and the parents' attorney. It was so smooth, in retrospect, I should have been suspicious.

I didn't think it was a bad idea, UNTIL, I read about how Medicaid will delay paying nursing home, until the gift amount is compensated for.
SO.....is there anything I can do, at this point, to protect my parents? Do I have to come up with the cash to pay nursing home bill, since I accepted the gift of items valued about $10K?

They don't want the items back as they are moving. Sis is waaaaay out of state and could care less about the household items. She counts them as valuable ONLY if they would be given to me....but if she had to empty the house she's said she would just donate it all to charity!! Talk about a double standard!!

But anyhow. Am I totally screwed here? I feel duty-bound to provide services to my parents (mom tried to pay me $10/hour but Sis objected, whereas the paid caregiver gets $22/hour no problem).

I know it's "easier" for me to provide caregiving, since I live close by. But, at the same time, if I lived 10 hours away, I would be able to promote my career and take vacations on a moment's notice (as my siblings obviously have been able to do). I know some may accuse me of being jealous. But, my parents have always tried to keep things "equal."

What is equal about any of this? Once there is a Power of Attorney (who is also Executor and Trust distributor), it is automatically and emphatically UN-equal.
The POA, Executor and Trust documents in this case, do not require any accounting! Sis can do anything she wants, (such as Travel & other expenses she has already written herself checks for!!!) and there is no way any of the other siblings would ever know about it, once Dad & Mom are gone.

It seems so very unequal to me. I do all the work, Sis takes mere phone calls, and in the end I may have to pay cash to compensate for a silly gift.

Medicaid

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score 0 · Answer 1

I'm going to go get an fresh appraisal of the items, from 2 different junk dealers and see if it really is worth 10k. as I said, " It was so smooth, in retrospect, I should have been suspicious." If the stuff isn't really worth the figure that was "signed" off in their letter then I've been duped.

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score 2 · Answer 2

pretty good, I wish it was that simple. Medicaid will not want to see anything. They just refuse to pay for the first $10,000 of your parent's care. That's the part that hurts.

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score 1 · Answer 3

well if they do end up needing Medicaid, I still have the pile of household items sitting in a corner of my basement, Medicaid can come & take a look and if they say it is going to prevent parent from getting aid they might need, then they can have that pile of junk--see if they can sell it!

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score 0 · Answer 4

If you, sis, and the attorney agreed on a value of $10K, that is the figure recorded as a gift and it is within the taxable limit. Good. If your parents don't need Medicaid for five years, good, it won't count against them.

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score 0 · Answer 5

I guess the solution for anyone accepting "household items" from their parents, is to pay to have an inedepedent valuation made, a written notice, so that there are absolutely no questions----not from siblings, or the IRS, or Medicaid.
I did get an evaluation of the items from an official at our local Goodwill, and they came up far short of $10,000. That $10K figure is what my mom & I had originally thought.
So, I feel relieved. But I didn't appreciate the scrutiny from my sister. That is a whole nuther question. I will post that as a separate question.

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score 0 · Answer 6

((pamstegmann, there is only $10K gift of household goods. don't know where $18K came into picture. I did help them sell their old motor home but they themselves kept that money, not me, I encouraged them to preserve it for their own needs.))

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score 0 · Answer 7

About the household value.. yep I know about this. My folks owned an antique shop, and thier house was full of antiques. Our very highly recommeded and reputable auctioneer in Lancaster Pa offered to help us pack it up, sell it.. you know. Yes indeedy after the sale and payouts my folks got a whopping 3000. A bed I had sold for 300 disapeared into the sale for ... $5...so it;s hard to know what stuff is really worth.. and what can be gotten for it. We got ripped off majorly.. so be careful

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score 1 · Answer 8

If you got $18K in property plus another $10K in 2014, you have $28K in taxable income for this year. The gift limit for 2014 is $14,000 per recipient. That is your primary problem. Read IRS publication 559.
Gifts are not inheritance, they are GIFTS and taxable.
Medicaid is not even in the picture yet.

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score 0 · Answer 9

I'm flummoxed as to why the family is arguing about how to divide up their parents' property before they're both gone. Color me silly, I guess.

If your parent(s) go on Medicaid within five years, they will find out about the gift of property and exclude X-number of months of nursing home care until it's recuperated.

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score 0 · Answer 10

igloo, I know exactly what you are talking about. Often people come to me to sell their "priceless" heirlooms. It is usually a bunch of what is considered junk and trinkets in today's market. Few people inherit LC Tiffany or Rembrandt, though they do like to imagine. I am interested in an occasional piece, but the person has the idea that it is worth what Antiques Roadshow would say and that a merchant should pay them that much. Sheesh! Antiques Roadshow values only hold for very rare things.

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score 1 · Answer 11

? about the property or item worth 10K for you.
Is it real property, like land or something that involves doing some type of conveyance paperwork? So that the paperwork is registered either at a courthouse or some other record (like a stock transfer) in order for you to fully be the new owner? And your SS# is in the recorded document.

Or it is more like, say sterling flatware for 12 or mom's tiara that has a resale value of 10K?

What it is and how it could be recorded will make a difference as to whether it will surface for being an asset under Medicaid. As an aside, my experience is that family seem to place an unrealistic value on household items. I have cousins in their 60's that are still whining about stuff from our grandparents house that got sold by my dad (dad had the truck so it fell to him to do for my mom's family). Most inventory for estate value can be set at what they would get at a tag sale. If something is truly valuable, like a Mallard bed or Newcomb vase for things from my area that come up in estates, it can go to a auction house for real $$. But that probably is not the case for 99.9% of household items.

Good luck with Sissy too. She's a piece of work.

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score 1 · Answer 12

It depends on what the items are. You can check Medicaid rules to see what property is countable. Much of the stuff sitting around the house is not countable when it comes to Medicaid.

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If I received a gift worth $10,000 will Medicaid seize it?

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