If a house has been transferred from a Medicaid applicant to the community spouse, what are the implications if the community spouse were to sell the house?
I’m with GusetShoppe on NOT doing anything till after she’s deemed eligible for Medicaid.
But he can then sell the house, Medicaid cannot force him to continue to live in the home or stay in the same city. Medicaid cannot enslave the CS to live in the same city. He can be a CS aka a community spouse anywhere in the state. The issue will be imo if the sale of the home causes them to make a profit cause if it does, assuming state of N.Y. has home viewed as community property so that 50% profit is hers and will take her over the usual maximum 2k in exempt assets. He’s probably going to need it to be either a “lateral” housing buy (both cost the same) OR if he as a CS for NY state rules is allowed 119k in exempt assets and he doesn’t have this amount already set aside then buy a home that uses up all the $ less whatever to get to the magical 119k - this would be sticky to do and I’d run this plan by a NAELA atty to make sure it can work for how your state looks at CS situations.
Whatever the case, the selling of old house & buying of new house has all to be done within the same month. So say casa #1 act of sale for 348k is set for the 4th of the month, then he buys casa #2 for 348k by at least mid month so there is no-none-zero profit from the sale of the old homestead to her at EOM. He might want to actually buy a home slightly above whatever old house sells for, so no Medicaid “but there was a profit realized” nonsense. The goal is that Her beginning of the month starts ok for Medicaid and ends ok for Medicaid. Doing stuff like this is gonna require a really really good Realtor for both properties.
Also so you might want to proactively ask the Realtor if for title company searches if they (title co.) have some sort of medicaid lien document needed. If a release is needed, it could totally screw the pooch in getting things done in a timely manner. The buyer of casa #1 may not be able to wait out a Lien release - cause their mortgage co has a time limit on how long their offer holds - if Medicaid places these and footdraggs. The Realtor may not know abt Medicaid liens. But the title companies will. Really dad does not want to be set for Act of Sale and a medicaid Lien surfaces. Ask the Realtor which title company they usually use and contact them.
Also remember, her Medicaid Estate recovery action possiblility does carry over to get placed upon the new house. Whether or not state goes after property if he outlives her is very dependent on your states laws as to how Medicaid does this. Some states do and some state do not do a recovery action for surviving spouse.
Have you talked with lawyer? Once sold, the home is not an exempt asset and the sale might send combined assets over legal asset limit. It’s also not good to make changes during the process once application is submitted if it’s not approved yet.
We won't do anything until talking with a lawyer, and until the application is approved. I was just trying to get some information ahead of time for planning purposes. I'd like my dad to move closer to his kids, which would involve selling his house.
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But he can then sell the house, Medicaid cannot force him to continue to live in the home or stay in the same city. Medicaid cannot enslave the CS to live in the same city. He can be a CS aka a community spouse anywhere in the state. The issue will be imo if the sale of the home causes them to make a profit cause if it does, assuming state of N.Y. has home viewed as community property so that 50% profit is hers and will take her over the usual maximum 2k in exempt assets. He’s probably going to need it to be either a “lateral” housing buy (both cost the same) OR if he as a CS for NY state rules is allowed 119k in exempt assets and he doesn’t have this amount already set aside then buy a home that uses up all the $ less whatever to get to the magical 119k - this would be sticky to do and I’d run this plan by a NAELA atty to make sure it can work for how your state looks at CS situations.
Whatever the case, the selling of old house & buying of new house has all to be done within the same month. So say casa #1 act of sale for 348k is set for the 4th of the month, then he buys casa #2 for 348k by at least mid month so there is no-none-zero profit from the sale of the old homestead to her at EOM. He might want to actually buy a home slightly above whatever old house sells for, so no Medicaid “but there was a profit realized” nonsense. The goal is that Her beginning of the month starts ok for Medicaid and ends ok for Medicaid. Doing stuff like this is gonna require a really really good Realtor for both properties.
Also so you might want to proactively ask the Realtor if for title company searches if they (title co.) have some sort of medicaid lien document needed. If a release is needed, it could totally screw the pooch in getting things done in a timely manner. The buyer of casa #1 may not be able to wait out a Lien release - cause their mortgage co has a time limit on how long their offer holds - if Medicaid places these and footdraggs. The Realtor may not know abt Medicaid liens. But the title companies will. Really dad does not want to be set for Act of Sale and a medicaid Lien surfaces. Ask the Realtor which title company they usually use and contact them.
Also remember, her Medicaid Estate recovery action possiblility does carry over to get placed upon the new house. Whether or not state goes after property if he outlives her is very dependent on your states laws as to how Medicaid does this. Some states do and some state do not do a recovery action for surviving spouse.
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