How did you handle Medicaid Estate Recovery after death of a loved one in long term care facility?

In reply to Mac

After moms passing, I had requested a letter saying how much was owed so I had an idea what I needed to get for the house. When I received no recovery letter, I called to find out why a lean was not put on my Moms house. I was told the only way Medicaid Recovery in my State knows of a person's death, is if they have been notified by the NH and they did not show Mom had died. So, I was sent the paperwork. There was no acct because she had no money. The NH had been her payee. The lean was placed not long after.

There was a poster a while ago who was not notified of Medicaid recovery for 3 years. The Executor was not aware of Medicaid recovery and had sold the house and split the proceeds with the beneficiaries.

So, not all States are quick to recover.

Does mom have a house? If not Medicaid will not be able to recover anything from Moms estate. But they have to try. Her spend down money and her PNA do not go back to Medicaid. That is her money and will be part of her estate. When you get recovery info questions will be asked. You answer them honestly. YOU are not responsible for her debt.

There will be no money because she has none. A house would be the only asset she would have that they could put a lean on. If someone is living in it, they must have lived in it before Mom went on Medicaid and she had to be living there too. It depends on the reasons why someone was allowed to stay there if they can remain after her death. They could have been a caregiver, a disabled child, etc. If allowed to stay, a lean will be put on the house but won't need to be satisfied until the person leaves, sells or passes away.
This is how I read my Moms recovery letter.

If she has no assets there is nothing for them to recover and there is no worries about it for you at all. They will take the remaining assets. Then there will be nothing else for them to "recover". You will be asked to fill in a form as to her assets, holdings, real estate, car, etc. There is no "debt" program.
I am sorry you weren't aware that a senior's assets go to pay their care; only when there are no assets whatsoever does the state step in and pay the care, and upon death, if there were assets that could not be tapped during life, those are taken to put back some of what the taxpayer's put out for care. The truth is, that had you known this, it would have made little difference, as I assume that your loved one needed the care, and there was little choice other than applying for the help of the medicaid program.

The info on MERP is in the application in some way. Usually it’s 3 short paragraphs in its own block above the application signature lines. It will also be in any annual renewals done.

SGeo is right, MERP for most who apply for Medicaid is not a issue.
For an individual LTC application, for most states they can have a maximum of $2,000 in exempt assets & then each mo they have to do a copay of their monthly income to the NH and can only get to keep the $35-$120 Personal Needs Allowance which tends to get spent in full each month for beauty shoppe and toiletries/ clothing replacement. They die with no real assets, so nothing to recovery on. State or its outside contractors will send out a Notice and questionnaire as to their after death assets, but it goes nowhere as no assets.

Now if they die owning a home or having a life insurance policy that has their estate as the beneficiary, then whomever is Executor will have to deal with the states attempt to do a recovery.

Medicaid Estate Recovery Program (MERP) is required by federal law to try to recover funds Medicaid spent on your mother for SNF. The key word here is "try". Assuming your mother does not own a house or a car, the only thing your mother will have left in her estate is what's left in her checking account. Since she needs to spend down her account to qualify for Medicaid, there usually isn't much left. The example I would give you is let's say MERP sends your mother's estate a letter demanding repayment for $80,000 in Medicaid funds spent on her care. Now let's say your mother only has $2,000 left in her checking account. MERP is just out of luck for the other $78,000. The estate is now insolvent and nobody can collect anything more from it. MERP can't collect anything that isn't in the estate.

When a house is left, then MERP can put a lien on the house and try to make you sell it to repay the funds. Since there is no house or anything else of value to sell, there isn't much to worry about. It was likely never mentioned because your mother doesn't have anything of value for MERP to recover from, only what's in her checking account.