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Willow308 Asked November 2017

Can Medicaid take my home to pay expenses for my stepfather if my mom's name is on my house?

My mother and I bought a house together 17 years ago. I now live in the house with my own family. My stepfather has recently gone into the nursing home and I am wondering if Medicaid can take my house when his insurance runs out.

igloo572 Nov 2017
Willow - here’s the sticky imo..... as parents are married their assets are shared. Like what Rovana wrote. So whatever % of ownership your mom has on the property that you own & your family live in will more than likely be considered parents joint assets. So how Deed is registered is mucho importante. Look at how tax bill & the Deed reads as those should do match up to if 2 owners or 3. Mistakes can be made in recording at the courthouse so read all carefully.

BUT the sticky continues as Medicaid is required to attempt a recovery of services paid for (like your dads NH stay) from the assets of the estate of deceased. Done via MERP & how done varies by your states approach to property rights & probate. Like some states do not attempt recovery at all if there is a surviving spouse living in the home, but other states do but wait till they die to do recovery on property. Plus MERP has all sorts of exemptions & exclusions as well as a cost benefit requirement. Your situation to me really needs good legal to review to see exactly what % ownership is and how MERP tends to run in your state so you can come up with a plan. Also if your paying all property costs (so mom isn’t paying her % ownership of taxes, insurance, upkeep), I’d ask atty how to deal with that. Yeah it’s going to be a time consuming butt-rash but better this now than years from now trying to sell house (or use it as collateral) and find there is a Medicaid lien on it and it kills the deal. The elder law atty will have a real estate atty they work with to deal with that aspect.

Out of curiosity what is house value?

rovana Nov 2017
If your mom's name is on the house, then presumably it would count as her asset, and thus a marital asset should your mom's husband apply for Medicaid. I believe you need to check if it is in fact, in your state, considered a marital asset, because Medicaid considers all marital assets of the couple, I believe. Igloo has lots of information on this subject - look for her post.

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JoAnn29 Nov 2017
If he is not on the deed, no. It's not an asset for him. Has he ever lived in it?

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