Will my sister be responsible to repay my mothers nursing home expenses paid by Medicare?

The short answer is that a sibling is never responsible for the debts of another sibling, whether it is Medicaid or otherwise,unless they signed some sort of contract specifying otherwise (which would be very unusual). Merely claiming her sister as a dependent will not cause her to be responsible for her sister's Medicaid debt.

Lrt, it would help if you first answered the question posted under your almost identical post:


"My Mother lives with my sister. My sister owns the house herself, as well as another rental property. My mother does not have any $$ interest in the house, and pays $200.00 for rent monthly. My sister claims her as a dependent on her taxes. She is going into a nursing home shortly. Will my sister be responsible to repay my mothers nursing home expenses paid by Medicare? And will Medicare try to take either of my sisters properties?"


You keep referring to Medicare. Are you serious about that or do you mean Medicaid? To the best of my knowledge, Medicare doesn't "take properties." However, if you mean that your mother will apply for and expects to get Medicaid, that's a different story.

Once your mother goes into nursing home she will no longer be able to claim her as s dependant because she will not be supporting your mother anymore the state will. Make sure she knows that. Now she may have to pay back some of the money your mom was paying for utilities IF medicaid views the money as gifts so i hope her and mom had a written agreement in place regarding the payments. She will not be responsible for paying anything else and they will not take her property. Just make sure there was no other money given away by mom in last 5 years as that is how far back they will look.

I am sorry, I meant Medicaid. And yes, I did post this in both the questions, and in the discussion forum because I thought I would get more feedback that way.

If you are referring to Medicaid - and if she is qualified for Medicaid - everything is determined around the state Medicaid law she resides in. There are gifting laws and a look back period. Your question is a legitimate one,however more facts will need to be shared before I could provide a solid answer. I hope your sister is working with an eldercare attorney who is a Medicare expert rather than trying to do this herself or using an estate planning attorney. There is difference. Look at it this way - if you have cancer, you want an oncologist rather than a internist. Hope this helps

IRT: I suggest you pull up the Medicare info on SNF's and read the detailed information yourself.

I hope your sister can claim she pays ove half of ur Moms support. By taking "rent" not sure how sh can claim her.

Llama, what is SNFs, just curious

ramiller: SNF=Skilled Nursing Facilties

If your sister was paying over one-half of Mom's support, then she could claim her as a dependent. Mom could have contributed something towards her own expenses and it could still be less than half. But after Mom enters the nursing home as a long-term care resident, your sister will not need to provide food, shelter, utilities, perhaps other expenses like transportation. You can't live in two places at once.