Will I be able to will money to my daughter and have her apply for Medicaid for my husband's care?

You will be better off putting your home/money is a special needs trust for your husband. This will ensure the money is used for his care.

Thanks for the info. That is the type of home my mom lives in and it is wonderful. In Michigan they are called Adult Family Care Homes. Its a shame all states dont use a uniform naming system it would make it so much easier.

igloo, thanks for the info. It will take some time for me to read and process it all. One important fact, my husband is 88, and still competent with all his activities of daily living (ADL).

Sunflower - does PCH mean personal care home? So it's not actually a skilled nursing facility? So It's not a nursing home with the required services (nursing, medical, PT, social worker, dietary, etc.) & level of equipment required of a NH?

If so, These are also called board & care homes. When I was looking for my moms move from her home, I looked into a board & care but instead she went into a tiered continuing care system (where they have IL & AL & NH & have a hospice wing) so in theory my mom would move along the system at the same address as her needs increased. Board & care (like IL) are much much cheaper than a NH but require that the resident be able to still be quite quite capable & cognitive, to be able to do a lot of their "transitioning"on their own (like move from bed to walker). The board&care was about 1/3 less than IL (2k). My mom would have been a good fit @ board&care as she had lewy body dementia and still pretty compent & cognitive & social at this point in her dementia but at some point in her near future she would need a higher level of care (& its increased costs). What I saw was that lot of what the board & care did was kinda like college dorm style of living but with some daily help in getting up & around & did basic medication management & simple wound care for elderly but still with-it residents. The staff @ a board&care is tiny compared to skilled nursing facility or an AL.

I would be concerned that the level of care & oversight that your husband needs after a decade of dementia is beyond what a PCH provides for. It's going to be hard to make a move from home to a facility to begin with, but really you don't want it to end up that where he moves into is not suitable for his appropriate level of care needed and you face having to move him again. The continuing care that my mom moved into at IL level required her to come over for 2 "play dates" in advance to see if she was suitable for how this IL needed their residents to be. Mom was in her 90's too. The first play date was a tour & lunch for both of us and the next was drop mom off in AM so she went to do an arts & crafts activity, then she met with social services followed by lunch and then I met up with mom and to look at her IL apt and get the paperwork done. On retrospect, this was really good policy by the facility as everbody knew what to expect.

When you've gone to the PCH, is your hubs right now able to do every day what the majority of the residents do at this PCH? If you can, try to do another tour and actually stay there for a full meal and activity to see if yiur hubs is going to fit in. Hopefully he is and if so, you have found the bargain of the year for dementia care. But if not, ask this PCH what they do once a resident needs to move to a higher level of care....like do they oversee the move; do they have a memory unit he could go into; or a sister facility that provides higher level of care. Most places just mail family a "30 day notice" that states the resident requires care not provided and you have to move them within 30 days.

There is a poster on this site who's mom has been pretty good on her ADLs and in AL at about 3k mo. But her mom is now needing different medication management as her behavioral issues has changed & may be better dealt with in the adjacent memory care, and if so it's going to cost about 5k a mo to be in memory care. For my mom, she started having increased lewy visual issues & medication management problems so she was needing to move from IL. My mom actually went from IL to a freestanding NH (not a part of the continuing care place the IL was in) & my mom bypassed the AL stage. NH 6k mo. My point in this is rambling, is that their needs can change & suddenly, so you kinda need to expect that to happen and plan financially for it or make sure that he is in facilities that will accept him as a Medicaid resident & has open Medicaid beds. Good luck, none of this is simple.

ramiller, the facility is one of 3 PCH owned & managed by the Gilstrap family in Dahlonega GA " Evergreen Terrace" and Northwoods.

Retain an attorney.

In NJ you can not leave money to an Alzhiemer patient. In my friends case her Sister n law (husbands sister) left it to my friend, a no blood relative. SIL knew my friend would make sure monies were used for him. When u have the will drawn, the lawyer should be able to explain your options.

I'm with ramiller where did you look and find those fees, I'm in Maryland & going rate is $7,000 per month.

After seeing an elder attny in MO, my understanding is that you can keep your house. They can't make you sell your home as long as you live there. However, the remaining money is 50/50shared. And he has to spend down his share toward the nursing home cost. I'd recommend an elder law attorney That comes well recommended from others you trust.

Sunflower - so you have done a decade of caregiving? Omg that is amazing. Are you at the point of complete burnout in caregiving or close to it?

As other have posted, you need to meet with an elder law attny. I'd try to go with one that is NAELA. Your situation - as a community spouse - is a lot more complex that dealing with Medicaid for a widow or widower. You do NOT have to impoverish yourself... only hubs needs to be poor. You are allowed to have your own assets (about 115k) but it can be way more than that if you can do a SPIA (single premium individual /immediate annuity). Personally, I am not a fan of annuities, but if I was in the situation that my hubs needed & could get the care he needed in a Medicaid facility, I would get a SPIA done to get my assets down to get him medicaid eligible ASAP. Also, you might be able to do a SCIN to sell the house that you wholly own to your daughter. Self canceling installment note & they are done all the time to legally pass down property without having to pay full worth of property, most often property sold to grandchild. Medicaid has no claim or lein placement ability on a scin sold property. None of these are DIY projects imho, you have to have things like this done properly which means getting an experience atty to advise you on, plus they will know the FA needed to set up the SPIA, etc. Schedule an appointment & take your daughter with you. Good luck.

While you can certainly create a will that leaves all your property to your daughter, omitting your husband entirely, there is a law in every state that gives a surviving spouse a right to a certain percentage (typically 1/3 to 1/2, depending on the state) of the first-to-die spouse's estate. Medicaid will treat the amount that you did NOT leave your husband as a gift from him to your daughter, causing a period of disqualification from Medicaid for a certain number of months.

Thus, as you can see, it is quite complicated. What the best solution is depends heavily on state law. You may be able to minimize the amount you leave for your husband by using a trust inside your will. Clearly you should consult local legal assistance from an experienced attorney in this area of practice. Good luck!

I was just wondering what of facility you found with those kind of fees. They seem very low to me. Can you please share the type of facility you looked at? Also i agree you should see an Elder Law Attorney. These types of attornies have special education in dealing with medicaid, medicare va and all other types of issues for aging adults. Each state has a certification for Elder Law Attornies so make sure you do a search for one in your area.

Some people that are married have what they refer to as a 50 50 approach and it says we pool everything and if I go first you get it, and vice versa, the kids get an equal share if both of us go! (etc. )

I agree with most people here that because Medicaid, while it's a federal program, is managed mostly by the states, they can vary greatly in what is allowed. See an attorney who you know is an absolute pro about your state's Medicaid laws. This is advised when there are any assets that are not completely clear. It's too easy to make a mistake that you (or in this case your daughter) may regret.
Good luck,
Carol

frequent flyer brings up a good point. Let's say you bought the house before you married for $50K. OK, that is yours, all yours. But now the house is worth $150K. So during the marriage the gain is $100K. In NY, your spouse would be entitled to half of that, or $50K.
Georgia is an "equitable distribution" state, meaning all gains acquired during the marriage are split fairly. So if the money in the bank was put there after the marriage, it is split in two.

Sunflower17, I agree with the other answers, see an Elder Law attorney. State laws might say even if the money and house are in your name, being married half the assets belong to the husband [might be different if there was a pre-nup signed]. Thus, Medicaid could easily claim half the money and half the house to help pay for the care of your husband.

Make sure the attorney you see knows Medicaid law and what is and isn't allowed. Confirm that they have experience in Estate planning with Medicaid in mind.

Thanks for your comments

I agree .. Go see an Atty..

NO, you cannot. Medicaid would insist she pay it all back. It might be a good idea to talk to an elder law attorney before you make a huge mistake.