Can Medicaid claim money paid to life insurance beneficiaries after owners death?
If my mother goes into a nursing home under Medicaid, will her benefactors have to turn in the life insurance policy monies to them? She has no other assets except a house that is not paid off but she shares with her son.
Also realize that if she goes into aNH & onto Medicaid, that she has a required copay or SOC (share of cost) of basically all her monthly income (like her SS) to the NH. She will have almost no, none, nada of her $$$ anymore to pay a penny on that house that she owns & is allowed to be an exempt asset by Medicaid. All she willl have is a smallish personal needs allowance that ranges from $35-115 a mo. Most are $60 a mo & really maybe just maybe can cover beauty shoppe & some toiletries replacement costs.
Yeah it’s exempt but mom has no $ to pay for property costs.....
Brother will have to pay all property costs whether he legally is part Owner of house or just lives there. The mortgage on the house must be paid to keep it from foreclosure. Taxes & insurance must be paid. If he is not already a % owner with title and assessor records clearly showing this, he cannot acquire “ownership” as it’s gifting as far as Medicaid is concerned AND mortgage holder cannot simply transfer the loan or equity to another.
So can he on his own totally solo afford all property costs for an indeterminate period of time?? And is he likely to be able to qualify and document an exemption or exclusion to estate recovery???
To me those are critical questions that needs to be thought through before you all blithely look to mom/NH/Medicaid as a solution to her care & needs. If Bro cannot afford house, his getting an exemption to Medicaid’s Estate Recovery doesn’t matter. Mortgage co will foreclosure long before MERP happens.
If not, then house imo needs to be sold, mortgage paid off and mom uses whatever proceeds left to private pay for her care. She cannot gift $ either cause if she should run out of $ it will show up for Medicaid’s look back.
An elder can go onto NH Medicaid and keep their home if they desire but it only in my experience works if family can front all property costs on a property that they are ok to run a risk of never owning due to MERP. To me, it works IF property is either low value (under 100/75k) or almost at the edge of Medicaid upper property value limit (550k or 800k) and it has no real debt service, there’s likely exemptions which can be documented.
I am thinking yes as that money is an asset & your mom is still alive. Did you cash the life insurance policies in? If so than yes Medicaid will seek that money for repayment. Hopefully someone will review your question that know more than I on this subject, but i’ve read enough posts & feel the above is correct.
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Yeah it’s exempt but mom has no $ to pay for property costs.....
Brother will have to pay all property costs whether he legally is part Owner of house or just lives there. The mortgage on the house must be paid to keep it from foreclosure. Taxes & insurance must be paid. If he is not already a % owner with title and assessor records clearly showing this, he cannot acquire “ownership” as it’s gifting as far as Medicaid is concerned AND mortgage holder cannot simply transfer the loan or equity to another.
So can he on his own totally solo afford all property costs for an indeterminate period of time?? And is he likely to be able to qualify and document an exemption or exclusion to estate recovery???
To me those are critical questions that needs to be thought through before you all blithely look to mom/NH/Medicaid as a solution to her care & needs. If Bro cannot afford house, his getting an exemption to Medicaid’s Estate Recovery doesn’t matter. Mortgage co will foreclosure long before MERP happens.
If not, then house imo needs to be sold, mortgage paid off and mom uses whatever proceeds left to private pay for her care. She cannot gift $ either cause if she should run out of $ it will show up for Medicaid’s look back.
An elder can go onto NH Medicaid and keep their home if they desire but it only in my experience works if family can front all property costs on a property that they are ok to run a risk of never owning due to MERP. To me, it works IF property is either low value (under 100/75k) or almost at the edge of Medicaid upper property value limit (550k or 800k) and it has no real debt service, there’s likely exemptions which can be documented.
The house? If brother provided medically necessary care for mom for a period of two years, the house may be an exempt asset depending on your state.
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Hopefully someone will review your question that know more than I on this subject, but i’ve read enough posts & feel the above is correct.