When should I expect Medicaid to contact me about Estate Recovery?

As for whether a state has a limited time to make a claim for recoupment/reimbursement of Medicaid payments, the answer is: it depends on the state. Some states subject estate recovery claims to the same statute of limitations as other claims, i.e., 1 year, or whatever the statute says. Other states grant an exception to claims by the state government to the normal statute of limitations law, leaving you hanging there for years, unfortunately.

Louisiana has HMS as the outside contractor. The play book seems to be that within 6 mos of date of death whomever is on file within Medicaid's database for name & address as the elders personal representative will get a "Letter of Intent" from HMS. It should have a time frame for response.

So who was the person on file for mom? Who got her eligibility notices? If mom needed to do a re-eligibility who got the correspondence from the state on this? They would have gotten the letter of intent IF one was even sent.

Did mom own a home? If she didn't, then it could be that she is viewed as having no probatable assets so no letter of intent to be done. Probate is how in theory estate recovery is to be done. The insurance policy payout is outside of probate - the beneficiaries get the $ as per policy and none of this is an asset of the estate unless the estate was named the beneficiary. The trust, well read the trust documents carefully to see what happens and how it defunds. Trusts are their own legal entity so mom died but the trust didn't die now did it?. My guess is it too probably isn't an asset of the estate so not recoverable. I'd ask the attorney who did the trust as to it's status and how to defund.

How was her funeral paid? It could be the 5k trust was viewed as funds dedicated for that.

Also MERP has to meet a cost benefit / cost efficiency analysis to be done. Estates under a certain amount (varies by state) will not meet the requirement to be cost effective so no recovery done.

Go and have a nice brunch and order moms favorite foods & beverage and toast her with the life insurance $! And divide out the rest.

You might call up the attorney who wrote her trust. Might be able to point you in the right direction

Hi igloo and thanks for the reply. I was the person on file and received all of the notices and re-eligibility forms.

Mom did own a home. When she was no longer able to live alone the house was sold for $90,000. Half of the proceeds went towards the purchase of a bigger home for me to be able to move mom in with me and my family. The other half of the proceeds went into a Special Needs Trust. Medicaid approved both transactions as long as we conveyed the $45,000 interest of my home to my mom which we did.

The funeral was paid out of the SNT account. As mentioned, the only assets are the balance of the SNT and the $45,000 ownership in my home.

It actually made 7 months yesterday that mom passed. So, not sure what not hearing from MERP means. At some point, we are interested in purchasing a new home but I am concerned about doing so with the unknown of MERP as it relates to my mother's ownership in my home.

My biggest concern is having this hang over my head for the rest of my life if MERP never contacts me. That's why I was wondering if there is a statute of limitations.

Is there a lean on it house by Medicaid? If so, it will need to be paid when the house is sold. When my Aunt passed there was a lean but my disabled cousin, who was living with her, is allowed to stay in the house. If he sells the lean will need to be satisfied to the tune of $23,000.

As for whether a state has a limited time to make a claim for recoupment/reimbursement of Medicaid payments; can someone answer this question as it would apply in New York?

my spouse just passed in icu of hospt,,was in nh for dementia altz and diabetes..live in mass..he was on mass health (medicaid) and fed b/c. i have no assets lease an apt and lease a car no cd's nothing in bnk, no property..had him cremated ..he pd for yrs ago.. i only get ss i use that to pay my rent, car, electric and food ..can the nh attach my ss to pay 5000 to nh that is owed?

JoAnn, to answer your question there is no lean on my home from Medicaid or any other entity for that matter.