How does Medicaid Estate Recovery work when the surviving spouse owned the home jointly?

Thank you for that minute, Ralph. I had searched but kept coming up with legal precendent cases that I couldn't follow. If I read this document correctly, If my husband dies first I can continue to live in the house or sell it. After my death the county can file a claim aginst my estate (minus any assets acquired after my husband's death) for the amount of Medicaid my husband received. If I have foolishly squandered the proceeds of the original house sale on assisted living and medications and food, etc., then I guess Medicaid is out of luck. On the other hand, if I'm using the house money they are not providing me with the Medicaid benefits I'd need if I were destitute, so I guess it would be kind of a wash. :)

Yes, I could look into that, and maybe I will some day. The likelihood of my having any estate to preserve is pretty small, as all of our kids have been forewarned. Considering the assets we went through before hubby got on Medicaid, I'll be lucky if I don't wind up in subsidized senior housing. Between taking care of my husband with dementia, working full time to support us, dealing with my bipolar brother, and my own health issues, it is not easy to find time for seminars, free or otherwise. But you are right, I should. I should also try to figure out whether to start collecting social security this year or wait. Sigh. Too many shoulds. Not enough brain cells.

JG - with Medicaid being managed by each of the state's, then each state's program get's it's own special spin and laws on how probate is done. I'm most familiar with LA,TX and NM. None those states have done very much with the MERP program - their recovery rates are super low so far. But IMHO that will be changing as the states have shortfalls in revenue and contract MERP out to aggressive recovery firms.

That being said, what does MN say for MERP and surviving spouse? For TX if there is living in the home: a surviving spouse, a disabled child of any age, a business based at the home or if taking the home would place anyone living there on the state teat or if the cost to do thru MERP is not finiancially viable then MERP doesn't happen. I've been trying to find out what the $$ trigger is for MERP to happen. It seems to be if the "recovery" would be over 100K. Not the value of the home but what MERP can expect to net after other claims are paid, realtors and other real estate costs are paid. What MERP does if the executrix takes their time to file probate or drags probate out should be interesting to see.

My mom still has her home, she's in LTC on Medicaid as of Jan of this year after being in IL for a couple of years. Now I am keeping track of ALL the expenses on her home that I have paid...everything from property taxes, yard work, utilties, insurance, cable from Jan of this year plus the $$ spent on a caregiver at her IL that kept her from going into the LTC (and off of Medicaid) in the years prior. When she dies, I will send a response letter (to the MERP letter I get) that I will be filing a claim against her estate in probate for all those expenses. This is required to be done within a set amount of time (30 days). Based on the first 6 mo of this year,
I'm looking at spending 6 - 8K a year on the house. Every penny will be filed as a claim in probate. That claim will be paid first & before MERP.

Now depending on your state, keeping track of expenses related to the home might be something you need to do. But papertrails can be so overwhelming.
Not everybody can get into doing it for the long-haul or $ history build required.

Regarding your SS, I'm a somewhat younger spouse too & we have a 13 yr old, although my DH is in good health and working. What we are mulling over is at which age & rate to do SS. You might want to figure out what the payment would be based on your work at 62 vs getting it based on his. I assume you have been married for 10+ years - you need that to get his SS benefit. If you were married before for at least 10 years and the old DH has a higher SS pay out, you can get it based on DH # 1 rather than DH # 2 (really truly)! www.retirement-income.net is a good site for information on SS and other financial stuff.

Sounds like you have a pretty filled plate, stay positive!