A friend needs to go to a nursing home but family was told she's not eligible due to foreclosed house. How can that be rectified?

Margaret - well IF the issue for Jackie’s friend is that taxes are owed to IRS (due to foreclosure) AND the taxes haven’t been paid so IRS has filed a garnishment on their SS income, it poses a issue for the NH and state Medicaid. As elder won’t be able to pay the required copay to the NH so removed from eligibility by the state.

Where to start, to me, depends on which type of foreclosure reporting gets sent out. There are 2 types - 1099-A and 1099-C.
If it’s a1099-A, these imo are eyes glaze over crazy as you have to figure out if recourse/ non-recourse, capital gains exclusions, the HUD-1 form on the initial loan, FMV or loan balance as the base to use, etc. To me 1099-A need CPA or LLM/tax attorney to do. The “A” probably never ever a DIY. I’d guess at least 1k as it’s complicated

1099-C are simpler and more common. The “C’s” effectively cancel the remaining mortgage balance. It’s still income but due to the Mortgage Forgiveness Act should zero out taxes owed. But you have to file a 1040 & the Form 982 (Insolvency form) to have it in the IRS system otherwise they can do a garnishment. I’d bet that if they had a foreclosure they probably defaulted on other debt, so that they get a 1099-c from Mortgage co. and a 1099-C from VISA and another 1099–C from Discover, etc. It’s more straightforward set of #’s to use to show insolvency. TurboTax & Quickbooks tout they can do these. I know the enrolled agents who work for the year round H&R Block tax offices do them, they charge by the type of forms needed to do your taxes.

And for more fun, unless the elder can be competent and cognitive to deal with their taxes, the DPOA will have to file a IRS 2848.
If this has triggered an ineligibility by Medicaid, they may need to be notified by the IRS as to the status of the garnishment. Form 8821 can be filled out so that Medicaid can be cc’d on correspondence.

Does this have anything to do with Medicaid or are the friend self pay? I imagine the NH might do a credit check for self pay patients and maybe refuse them based on a foreclosure or bankruptcy for fear they will end up not paying. I don't know for sure but if a patient has moved in and then stops paying the bill it's probably not as simple for the NH to just evict them, they probably have a responsibility to make sure they have a safe place to go to which includes the care they need so if a self pay patient stops paying they are stuck. If this has something to do with it maybe your friend should apply for Medicaid and let them oversee pay down etc if there is any, some NH will take patients still in the application process when Medicaid is managing the back pay.

If however Medicaid is already involved and they are taking a position based on the credit report, I'm not sure how or why they would do that and the family would need to get clarification from a Medicaid case worker, their must be some waiting period or finalization that needs to be done because this is what Medicaid is for, people with no money unless the foreclosure was for other reasons.

Is this about taxes owed IRS so part of their income is garnished?

Medicaid in my experience doesn’t care abt debts that you have. Your debts whether credit card, mortgage, car note, etc are of no importance for your eligibility. Medicaid - for financial eligibility- is all about income (like SS, pension) & assets (saving, real property, investments) and that both were properly spent down prior to the Medicaid application.

For those who have had a foreclosure or have defaulted on other debts (like credit card), they will likely get a 1099-C on the $ & associated fees & interest on the old debt. It’s considered income and fully taxable. They need to file a 104O and a 982 to try to offset the income (the amount in the 1099-C) to get themselves insolvent. If not, the IRS can attach a portion of their SS. Which is a problem for Medicaid as they are required to basically pay all of their income as their monthly copay to the NH less a small (average $60) personal needs allowance.

In theory the 982 is a DIY & IRS has an worksheet to help you. For mortgage 1099, they can use the guidelines of the Mortgage Debt relief Act of 2007 to do the 982. Personally I think your best having a tax pro do the 982. I’m not sure if the Mortgage Act was renewed for 2018.

Please explain the bit about 'not eligible due to forclose home'. It doesn't make a lot of sense. Perhaps you can get more information here that will help you to ask questions as suggested by Worried in California.

They need to contact whoever told them they weren’t eligible. Was it medicaid? They need to contact the Medicaid caseworker to find out exactly why and how to become to eligible and then contact an elder care attorney familiar with Medicaid rules.