My father-in-law was placed in a nursing home. His insurance covered 100 days but that time is up. He will be paying out of pocket until his savings runs out. This will not take very long. He will then go on Medicaid. He owns four cars. Will they take them from him? One of the cars is ours, but the title was put in his name a few years ago for insurance reasons. Husband said if he ever got into an accident it would be on his insurance. We only loaned the car to him, he never paid for it (it’s a 1989 convertible). We want the car back before they try to take it. If they try to take it, can we just pay Medicaid to keep it? It’s worth less than $2,000 as it needs lots of repair. We live in Wisconsin but father in law lives in Minnesota.
https://www.agingcare.com/questions/my-father-in-law-was-recently-put-in-a-nursing-home-need-advice-on-car-issue-491717.htm
This question can be answered by a Medicaid caseworker. He will only be allowed one car on Medicaid. All others will have to be sold at Market value and the money spent down. It can be used to pay for his room. Prepay his funeral costs.
Yes, Medicaid can recover assets like cars from a deceased recipient's estate to pay back medical care costs. However, there are some exemptions and protections in place.
What assets are subject to recovery?
All assets that pass through probate, including property and financial assets like savings accounts
What assets may be exempt?
A single car, truck, or motorcycle, unless it's a classic car or antique
A portion of the primary residence, up to a certain amount
Assets held in certain trusts"
Source: browser search/AI overview
Once he runs out of money and assets then if he owns a home, Medicaid will put a lien on it to recover some of what they spent on him. This would need to be paid by the next owner. This happens after FIL passes.
If FIL doesn't have a PoA and has cognitive impairment, he may be in line for a court-assigned 3rd party legal guardian. If this happens, then they would be in control of what FIL actually owns (ie. has the title to). It won't matter what story surrounds why his name is on the title.