My brother is in a Long tem care facility and receiving benefits. We juts found out he owns land in another state but there is a problem with the deeds. How should we proceed?
It’s a Medicaid eligibility issue. In theory, the dpoa for brother should report the asset to Medicaid within the month of finding out. The initial Medicaid application should have an area within application as to how to do reporting new assets. It does happen, probably most common is they get an inheritance. Money eventually surfaces.
The issue will be that Medicaid will more than likely view the property as non exempt (no matter what the Deed drama is) and he is ineligible for Medicaid and retroactive. NH will be informed of the change in his status. Bill from NH will go to brother and dpoa. It becomes a crisis situation.
Medicaid basically allows a real property exempt assets limited to a home / homestead property and a car & within limits. Rental property is allowed IF fmv rent produced is used towards the required copay to the NH. Land seems to be viewed as an asset that can be sold and used for spend down. Whatever the asset is Medicaid can place a lien or a claim on it due to Medicaids recovery program. For Medicaid - as it’s run uniquely by each state - out of state assets are not exempt as state A can’t easily place a claim or lien on an asset in state B. That out of state not easily recoverable property is going to make him ineligible imo.
I’d suggest you / dpoa asap get a real estate atty where the land is to asap legally determine just what the ownership is. Medicaid doesn’t want to hear any interfamily drama; if there’s an issue that could be solved it’s up to family to work through to clear up ownership. If it’s his, what might be allowed by Medicaid is that it’s going to need to be put up for sale ASAP if he’s to stay on Medicaid. You might wan to run this plan by an elder law atty in brothers home state to see if feasible. Then you / dpoa take the attys ownership determination letter and Realtor Listing agreement and notify Medicaid of the asset just discovered and the plan to deal with it (the listing agreement). If this is the plan it needs to happen ASAP.
There have been folks on this site who have parents who lived in a home in another state. Then got ill and moved in with them (leaving still owned house out of state) then needed a nH & applied for Medicaid in their kids state while still owning home. If it was actually actively with Realtor listing agreement on the market to be sold, it was OK. No fsbo. Hopefully your brothers state Medicaid will allow for this.
Medicaid needs to be informed one way or another.
Sometimes there are inaccessible assets situation for Medicaid. So asset can be waived from being considered. Like mineral rights as ownership can be so convoluted & really can’t be sold. You’d report the royalties paid to Medicaid. For Land, imo I think you’d be hard pressed to get it waived as land can be sold. Titles can have whatever clouds on title lifted and get sold. Other owners can buy out another. Once sold all the proceeds of the sale need to be used for brothers care however is compliant for Medicaid. Speak with the atty as to the costs to get legal work done to get property sold, and how it might be paid.
Out of curiosity how did you find out? Was it taxes due end of January & someone passed on tax bill?
In general, Medicare does not care. Eligibility for Medicare is neither income or net worth based. What a person pays for Medicare is income based and in some cases net worth based so if your brother is getting some special Medicare assistance (e.g., a Part D low income subsidy not due to Medicaid), he needs to update his application
If you are saying that a previously completed Medicaid application did not include all assets, that information needs to be updated through your state Medicaid office. If the person has some Medicare assistance tied to that Medicaid application, fixing the first thing should fix the second
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In theory, the dpoa for brother should report the asset to Medicaid within the month of finding out. The initial Medicaid application should have an area within application as to how to do reporting new assets. It does happen, probably most common is they get an inheritance. Money eventually surfaces.
The issue will be that Medicaid will more than likely view the property as non exempt (no matter what the Deed drama is) and he is ineligible for Medicaid and retroactive. NH will be informed of the change in his status. Bill from NH will go to brother and dpoa. It becomes a crisis situation.
Medicaid basically allows a real property exempt assets limited to a home / homestead property and a car & within limits. Rental property is allowed IF fmv rent produced is used towards the required copay to the NH. Land seems to be viewed as an asset that can be sold and used for spend down. Whatever the asset is Medicaid can place a lien or a claim on it due to Medicaids recovery program. For Medicaid - as it’s run uniquely by each state - out of state assets are not exempt as state A can’t easily place a claim or lien on an asset in state B. That out of state not easily recoverable property is going to make him ineligible imo.
I’d suggest you / dpoa asap get a real estate atty where the land is to asap legally determine just what the ownership is. Medicaid doesn’t want to hear any interfamily drama; if there’s an issue that could be solved it’s up to family to work through to clear up ownership. If it’s his, what might be allowed by Medicaid is that it’s going to need to be put up for sale ASAP if he’s to stay on Medicaid. You might wan to run this plan by an elder law atty in brothers home state to see if feasible. Then you / dpoa take the attys ownership determination letter and Realtor Listing agreement and notify Medicaid of the asset just discovered and the plan to deal with it (the listing agreement). If this is the plan it needs to happen ASAP.
There have been folks on this site who have parents who lived in a home in another state. Then got ill and moved in with them (leaving still owned house out of state) then needed a nH & applied for Medicaid in their kids state while still owning home. If it was actually actively with Realtor listing agreement on the market to be sold, it was OK. No fsbo. Hopefully your brothers state Medicaid will allow for this.
Medicaid needs to be informed one way or another.
Sometimes there are inaccessible assets situation for Medicaid. So asset can be waived from being considered. Like mineral rights as ownership can be so convoluted & really can’t be sold. You’d report the royalties paid to Medicaid. For Land, imo I think you’d be hard pressed to get it waived as land can be sold. Titles can have whatever clouds on title lifted and get sold. Other owners can buy out another. Once sold all the proceeds of the sale need to be used for brothers care however is compliant for Medicaid. Speak with the atty as to the costs to get legal work done to get property sold, and how it might be paid.
Out of curiosity how did you find out?
Was it taxes due end of January & someone passed on tax bill?
If you are saying that a previously completed Medicaid application did not include all assets, that information needs to be updated through your state Medicaid office. If the person has some Medicare assistance tied to that Medicaid application, fixing the first thing should fix the second
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