I am POA for mom and on the deed with her to her house. If I sell it, are the proceeds protected from Medicaid?

I would ask an attorney if you have any share/legal interest to protect either while she is still living or after she dies.

In our state, any interest in a life estate is addressed on the Medicaid application. Our state claims against the sale of any property owned, in whole or in part, by the Medicaid recipient. The state claims some or all sales proceeds no matter how it is titled - life estate, JTWROS, Individual ownership or joint tenancy.

But for dementia, if she is the only person who can change ownership or sale within her lifetime, aren't all sales proceeds owned by your mom?

If the life estate was created 5 or less years before she applies for Medicaid, there may or may not be an ownership percentage for you to protect.

Consult an Elder Law Attorney as every state is different. In Florida, your home is a protected asset under the Homestead Act and not subject to Medicaid asset requirements. Selling the home in Florida frees those funds for all to take and is the worst thing to do. Consult with an attorney.

Elder law attorney. This is too complicated a deed to do it any other way.

You need to talk to an attorney before you do anything.

It does matter, yes. If NJ doesn't have a Lady Bird Deed a.k.a Miller Trust, your Mom may be penalized by Medicaid. Talk with an elder law attorney to find out for sure what your options are.

You also need to read the trust because your mom May have abandoned her life estate by going in to a nursing home so she may have forfeited whatever rights she had to the house. If she hasn’t been paying the taxes and insurance, that can also affect her right to the life estate. The way my late MILs trust is set up, her boyfriend can live in the house for the rest of his life, however he is responsible for the taxes and insurance, he cannot sell the house or mortgage it and only blood relatives may live in the house with him. It also stipulates that the life estate ends if he leaves the house for a certain period of time.

It will depend on how the Trust was set up. My Dad has a life interest in a property with my brother and I the remainder men. However the Trust stipulated Dad can sell or mortgage the Trust Property.

My brother and I would be the remainder men of any assets left if Dad sold the property. Luckily he has not done that nor has he mortgaged it.

You really need to take a copy of the Trust document to a lawyer who is well versed in Trust law and Medicaid.

You really need to talk to a lawyer that knows Medicaid. Every situation is different. Do u live with Mom? If so then the house has been ur residence too. This is good. If u don't live with her, thats another thing. Not sure how a "life estate" works. I know a woman who was a widow who owned her home. She remarried and stipulated in her will that new DH could live in the home till his death and then it reverts back to her children. He really had no interest in the home.

It will be worth the money to find out now how u will be effected.