Dad just got transferred to a nursing facility with occupational and physical therapy to his care. Don't know if his heart can take it being he's got severe heart failure along with low bp when he stands to try to walk. My brother's and I are looking into removing my dad's name from the house in order to protect it. Can it still be done?
However, as this is complicated and a legal matter in which you cannot afford to be wrong I would consult with an elder law attorney for your options.
You sell dad's home to get him the best care in a private room in a private pay facility rather than "protect the house" for your inheritance. Why else did dad work his whole life? Surely not for some second rate Medicaid nursing home in a semi private room with a curtain separating him from his roommate. That's for folks with NO assets.
My mom moved to facilities and her house was sold, and my brothers and I want those proceeds to go to the best care for her. We dont expect to inherit it.
Even if a clever lawyer could somehow to engineer this from a legal point of view, I believe it is not right to protect these resources in order to get taxpayers to pay.
Getting him on Medicaid should be the last resort, most have shared rooms and poor conditions.
But yes, medicaid is for people like you who did all you could for as long as you could.
A Medicaid room is almost always a shared room and using only doctors and clinics that accept Medicaid, which is not many. If your Dad has "severe heart failure" what prognosis does his cardiologist give him? Five years, or less?
I'm not judging you or your family but the expectation of inheritances can cause people to make some very ill-advised decisions. Does your Dad have an assigned PoA for medical and financial? A Living Will or POLST? A Last Will with an assigned Executor? If not, this is what he (and you) should be doing right now.
To assist you in finding a good facility in your area, speak to someone who knows your area very well. It will probably be only a couple hours of work in spite of their costs. Try https://www.aginglifecare.org/
That is why I am letting hubby's grown children know the cost of aging, and what to expect later down the road. That way they are not in the dark. That yes, the equity in our house will help pay for senior living/memory care, along with our "rainy day" savings.
Yes, the cost is expensive for senior living/nursing home, but we usually don't see the behind the scenes costs involved. The highest cost for these facilities is labor for skilled workers and Adm. Just imagine what the facility's grocery bill is like. We think our electric, gas, and water is costly, imagine it for a facility. Then there is a huge cost of liability and building insurance. Maintenance costs, indoors/outdoors. City/County business taxes. Annual property tax. Cost of accountants and attorneys. Let's not forget the construction mortgage payment each month. The list goes on and on. Unfortunately, Medicaid payment for room/board/care is almost bare bones, so to make up the difference self-pay rooms are more expensive. Medicaid is funded by us taxpayers.
The admin director told me it was not sustainable for the nursing home to be able to stay afloat. It was a shame , it was an older family owned facility that could not compete with the new fancy looking facilities being built by these chains . These chains have multiple facilities, where maybe some facilties that bring in more money help prop up the others .
This older family SNF I worked at only owned the one facility .
Please note, even if your Dad could transfer title (he would need to do this, you can't) of his house over to you and your brother, later down the road when you sell the house, there will be huge income tax implications to deal with, and more so if you both don't make the house your primary residence. An Elder Law Attorney or CPA can explain.
It is much better to inherit the house if your father has zero mortgage balance. If he still has a mortgage, then you would need to "assume" his mortgage (only if it is assumable) or get a new mortgage.
Let him use the equity in the house to pay for his care. That is why us old timers like to pay off our mortgage, the equity helps us with cost related to situations such as your Dad's.