Your Home is often times one of the largest valued assets that you have. In the event that you or your spouse need to enter into a Nursing Home, worry about what is going to happen to your home could keep you up at night.
Will Medicaid make me sell the house? What if I have an adult child or sibling living in the house, will they get evicted? Is there any way to leave the house to my kids if I need to go into a nursing home?
If you are married, and one of you needs nursing home care and the other will stay home, your home is exempt. This means that not only will Medicaid ignore your house when adding up assets to determine if you qualify, but they will also NOT put a lien on your house while one of you is living there. If the stay-at-home spouse passes away while the other spouse is in the nursing home, or has to enter into a nursing home themselves, then the house no longer is exempt, The house will need to be placed for sale within six (6) months and a lien will be placed on the home for the services Medicaid is/has paid for.
If you have an adult disabled child or a minor child living in the home, the home is also exempt while they are living there. Your home also remains exempt if there is a chance that you may be able to leave the nursing facility and return home. Medicaid will place a lien on your home for the services paid by Medicaid, anticipating that they will be able to recover some of the costs of your care when the house is sold.
You are allowed to transfer your home to an adult child who lives in the home, and by living in the home, your adult child cared for you and was able to prevent you from entering into a nursing home for two years or more. There will need to be documentation, and providing care may include monitoring medications, providing meals, providing assistance with bathing, dressing, and ensuring the safety of the parent.
Medicaid does not routinely evict people from their homes if they are on the deed. Medicaid doesn’t want to pursue eviction actions if they do not have to. For people who own their homes with siblings or children, this means that Medicaid will place a lien on the property for up to the value of the home that is owned or attributed to the person receiving nursing home services, but they will not act on that lien until the house is sold.
It can be difficult to try to protect your home for the benefit of your children if you do not fit one of the exemptions above. Your options are usually limited to gifting the real estate to your child outright or gifting it to your children in an Irrevocable Trust. In both cases, you will not be able to apply for Medicaid until five (5) years have passed since you transferred the property and you have given the real estate to the children which can cause a whole new set of worries. In the event that you are considering this type of transfer, please sit down with an attorney and discuss all of the risks that come with these options.
For more information or to schedule an appointment, contact us.