I am my 89 year old Grandma's caregiver and POA. Is there any way to keep Medicaid from getting her condo?

LTC NH Medicaid application is a state form that’s filed upon admission into a facility. Either admissions or SW do these at the NH with the elder or their DPOA. If you’re not DPOA, you may have to sign a separate financial responsibility document for gran to be admitted if she’s coming in as “Medicaid Pending”.
There also will be a list of documentation required & needed to accompany the Medicaid application - like 5 years of all financials, Deeds on property, life insurance policies, “awards letter” from SS, funeral preneed stuff. For us, all facilities we looked at had the documentation list done as a xerox of 1 or 2 pages that we got from facility at the end of the tour. My moms documentation stack was abt 100 pages. Documentation must be turned in within a pretty tight schedule or LTC Medicaid application will be closed out & denied.

if you want to know what the State rules are MERP & caregiver criteria are, IMO, that’s something to discuss with an elder law attorney. I’d suggest one that’s CELA level. Info will be in your states Administrative Code - which you can go online to read - but deciphering what it means isn’t a diy imo for most of us.

Again caregiver exemption usually only for the elders sibling or child. It is done to offset possible loss of income or even homelessness for those who are past their prime work years & provided care. Like 90 yr old elder with 80 yr old sibling or 65 yr old daughter. The viewpoint kinda is that Grandkids don’t qualify as you still have years, possibly even decades, of future work history you can do. That caregiving is a pause in your work history over time. And your situation can be viewed as you benefitted from in-kind (rent, household costs) during this brief-over-time period.

Regarding the “Medicaid let me have her condo”.... What Medicaid does, is they can place a lein or a claim on her home. If lein is there, the sale / transfer of her home cannot be done as no clear title. Btw Medicaid does this for any programs applied for once over 55. So if gran was to do Community based Medicaid, the lein / claim rules exist for that too.

again remember if gran goes into NH & applies for Medicaid, all property costs must be paid by others as gran will NOT have her SS$ or any other income to pay any property costs.

My understanding is you would need to clearly establish to state that you were caregiver (family allowed determined by your state for the exemption) for at least 2 years prior to her entry into NH to get caregiver exemption to estate recovery (MERP) and you need to be the only heir. Sounds easy but..... the sticky in all this is whether doing & keeping home is feasible for you as to over time & to just how your state administers it’s Medicaid program. Btw there are other exemptions and exclusions to MERP besides live in caregiver one as well as a cost benefit analysis requirement.

for “heir” that’s straightforward, she has valid will that names you as her only heir. If it’s you & 3 others, then her estate is divided by 4 & everyone else has to clear an exemption or exclusion for Estate Recovery to get beyond MERP. Good luck with that ever happening.

for “caregiver”, you may need to provide a letter from her old MD or SW that she needed care & in detail perhaps with ICD-10 codes as to type of need based on her health chart. It needs to be full-time caregiving to the extent that otherwise she would need skilled nursing care in a NH. You cannot have another full time job. Most states have caregiver exemptions limited to sibling or son/daughter. As GuestShoppe wrote, you as a grandkid may not qualify - the exemption is done to offset the loss of income due to being a caregiver for years, grandkid still has years of work history they can still do. Exemption are done as a post death process, so say you took care of her this year & 2018 & 2017, then she goes into a NH & dies in 2022. Getting documentation from her old doc (who stops being her doctor once she goes into a NH) from years & years ago may not be at all possible to get in 2022. If You cannot provide the documentation that MERP requires, your exemption gets denied. MERP lein stays on the house.

To me, if your doing caregiver route to MERP, you need to speak with CELA atty to see if your state will allow you as a grandkid and for the caregiver exemption to go forward in tandem with LTC Medicaid application. So documentation is provided and then ready to file with MERP whenever she eventually dies.

But realize - this is important - once gran goes applies for LTC NH Medicaid, she is required to have basically almost all her income (like SS) be turned over to NH as the required copay or SOC (share of cost). All she is able to keep is smallish PNA (personal needs allowance) that averages nationally $50 or $60 per mo. So all property costs - insurance, taxes, repairs, utilities - have to be paid by someone else NOT Grannie. If your the one living there, it’s all on you to pay all these. It’s rare family who will cheerfully pay Grans property costs, unless they themselves are getting or anticipate a benefit on the house. So can you totally on your own pay all property costs now and till sometime forever in the future?

Medicaid cannot force gran to sell the house.
But Medicaid regulations make it so that family / heirs have to pay all property costs on property that they do not actually own and run risk of not ever owning it due to MERP. I’ve been on this site quite a while & what happens over & over is family / heirs are all kumbaya for 6-8 mos on “Medicaid ain’t gonna take maws place” then whomever was to pay insurance doesnt, nephew who was gonna do yard won’t & taxes aren’t paid. DPOA gets beyond over dealing with it & House ends up getting sold. Gran has to use all $ to pay for NH.

So are you likely right now to be able to get documentation that you are doing full time caregiving that is keeping her from a NH?
will you as a grandkid qualify for Caregiver exemption?
Can you totally on your own pay all property costs possibly for years in the future?

Her assets are to be used to pay for her care; not for gifts or inheritances for family. Maybe you can purchase.

Can you buy it from her? If she is able to sign a contract and you can afford fair market value this is an option. She can then pay you rent and you can get a cg contract to help pay the mortgage, and other bills.

Grandchildren are not eligible for the Medicaid caregiver exemption unless your states law has changed recently.

First, Medicaid does not take the Condo. At time of death, a lean is put on it.

You won't be able to "have it" but you may be able to stay in it if you can prove its ur main residence and ur Gmas caregiver. You may have to prove you can maintain it. Pay any mortgage, upkeep. Utilities, ect.

When I got the Medicaid recovery form one question asked was there someone living in Moms house who could claim it was their main residence If so, the person could stay until the home was sold or they passed. A lean would be placed on it but no recover until selling or death.

Medicaid doesn’t take property’s, they place lien’s on them that are satisfied when the property is sold. Have you lived with your grandmother for at least 2 years? If so, you will probably qualify for the caregiver exemption.