Can Medicaid force me to repair my Mom's home to make it sellable if they have a lien on it?

You are not responsible for her debt to Medicaid or anyone else for that matter.

Send them the keys and move on.

These government agencies will threaten, bully and manipulate even when they are in the wrong. This is one of those times. Tell them to go sue their client and give them her current address. They are so stupid they will probably send a dunning letter to her final resting place.

Do not worry about this, it is not yours to worry about.

Try contacting your county area on aging and see if there's an elder law attorney who will meet with you - consultation might even be free or at least on a sliding scale

Sonja -

In my opinion, nothing you added so far changed the first answer you got above. Your POA responsibility ended when your mom died. You signed the lien on HER behalf, NOT yours. The lien means the government has legal rights to take the house if the certain events happen to recovver the money it paid for your mom's Medicaid expenses.

WHILE you were living there, it made sense that they wanted you to pay the taxes and insurance, and upkeep because those were the conditions for you to live there. But once you move out, you can just literally give them the key and walk away.

Maybe she means it would be costly to you, IF you wanted to fight to keep the house. Assuming you have let them know you don't want the house and plan to move, they are now trying to bully you. Don't fall for it. Just turn out the lights and leave the keys.

Tell them that the house is theirs, lock, stock and barrel.

Send a certified letter telling them that since your mom has passed and they have a legitimate right to the house you are now currently situated at a new address and just wanted to advise them that the house has been put on the market and the real estate agent has there contact info and the lien will be dealt with in escrow. Let them know that the real estate agent has priced the home at fair market value. (An appraisal doesn't mean a locational price, it is the condition,  location, square footage,  amenities and more.) They can not expect more then that, if they do, it's some ignorant person that is gonna show how wonderful they are by tormenting some one in the middle of a huge lose. Ugh, some people turn my stomach

I am sorry for the loss of your mom.

By the way, probate would be expensive for them as they would have to start the legal process.

Be sure and put everything in writing, people will lie, can't argue with a written document. If they call, tell them you want it in writing as you can not possibly keep track of all their threats while you are doing your due diligence in the matter, then say goodbye and hang up. Do this everytime they call, Cruz if you go to court, no judge will listen to he said she said, they will look at a letter and take that into consideration. KEEP A COPY of everything you send, along with the return receipt showing who signed for it.

Best of luck, dealing with our government is a real pain.

Sonja, there's another aspect to this issue.

Just to clarify, when you wrote "There's no executor of will. " did you mean that there's a will but no executor named, or that there's neither a will or executor? In other words, did she die intestate, which means w/o a will?

If so, then who inherits the house would be subject to Alabama intestacy laws. Google "Alabama Intestacy laws"; there are several hits. This is a statutory source:

https://law.justia.com/codes/alabama/2016/title-43/chapter-8/article-3

And this is a more readable explanation of who gets what if someone dies without a will:

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/intestate-succession-alabama.html

The reason I explored this is because I was wondering if you inherited the house entirely by yourself, and actually had an inherited ownership as well as possible tax, upkeep, etc. responsibility....subject to the Medicaid lien.

I was also wondering if you or anyone else actually had an inherited interest in the estate, any obligation for disposition, or any interest at all.

If you had NO interest under intestacy laws, then you don't even have the basis or liability for maintaining the estate, and the issue of needing to repair is it moot.

If you are the sole intestacy heir, there's an issue that I don't have the expertise to address: do you have title or upkeep obligation w/o transfer of title to you through a probate intestacy proceeding? This is kind of a "being in limbo" situation.

If I were in this situation, I would probably request that Medicaid provide statutory authority for my obligation to maintain property to which I did not (yet) have title, and for which I had NO FUNDS to use for maintenance. Shift the burden to Medicaid to prove that you have to maintain the property.

Alternatly, since the attorneys you've contacted haven't been responsive, there are two options that I can think of:

1. Get free legal advice from senior centers on whether or not you do have any obligation for the house and property. They may see a potential client and provide just enough information to convince you to hire them. What you do then is make sure you understand the situation, do more research if you have to, then see a different free advice attorney with the updated facts.

This is really to clarify that you have NO obligation for the house or property, and can freely move on.

2. Or you could just notify Medicaid that you do not believe that you have any legal interest or liability for the property, and would be willing to execute a Quit Claim Deed to Medicaid if THEY determine and CAN PROVE that you do have an interest.

This is really a maneuvering tactic, kind of a "prove it or shut up" issue.

Don't let them scare you with the "probate costs" threat. In your mom's case, the costs of probate would probably be minimal, and they would come out of the proceeds for the sale of the house. In any event, you are not even obligated to initiate the probate process to get the house sold. They are trying to get you to make their job easier. As others have suggested, send them the keys and a certified letter explaining the situation and let them worry about it.

Sonja- Here's a link to a Q&A list concerning Medicaid and probate/estate recovery.

http://www.thelongtermcarespecialist.com/ltcquestions.html

From what I read, in order for Medicaid to recover the costs it paid for your mother, Medicaid will file a claim with a probate court. The house and all other assets will be sold to pay Medicaid and all other creditors in full. If there is any money left, it'll go to the heirs. If there's not enough to pay Medicaid and other creditors, they will have to take the losses. They can not go after the heirs.

Probate can not be avoided, it's a given, and the probate court process will cost what it will cost. Those costs will be paid from the sale of the house. So, for the Medicaid rep to use probate costs to threaten you is almost laughable.

You can thank Medicaid for allowing you to stay in the home, but you owe Medicaid nothing. And they know it. They are hoping you don't.

Let us know how it all turns out so we can learn from your experience.

If no executor was named, was this a home made will, i.e., someone other than an attorney created it? I'm almost afraid to ask, but did your parents draft the will themselves?

If all three of you inherit the home, then your 2 sisters have inherited interests, regardless of whether they helped with care or not. Are they aware of the Medicaid situation?

I'm thinking more now that you really need to get an attorney involved to make sure that your sisters as co-heirs are in agreement with the decision to just walk away from the house. Don't take the chance that they may come back later and question your decision.

I understand the issues of nonparticipating siblings. Truly I do. But I'm thinking of easing out of the obligations and want to ensure that you do it properly and legally.

Are there any other assets to dispose of/

You are not responsible for your mother's debts to Medicaid or anyone else. If they have a lien on the home then they'll take it in an effort to satisfy the lien, but whether it does or not is their issue.
When my brother (who was an attorney) passed, he left one adult son, a house with a mortgage larger than it could be sold for, and a small mountain of debt. I advised my nephew to just take what he wanted from the house and walk away as there was no check coming his way in the end if he went to the trouble of selling it. As a courtesy I called the bank to tell them there was not an executor for the estate and that the house was now abandoned as far as the family was concerned.
I also called the State's Bar Association to tell them he had passed being he was in practice for himself. Like with the bank I told them there was not an executor for the estate, that the family was just walking away, and that I was letting them know as a courtesy given my brother had open cases. They told me I had to become the executor and that I had to contact all of my brother's current and past clients offering to send them their files or pass them on to new attorneys. I told them I don't have to do anything and that I was doing them a favor alerting them to the situation. I also let them know that the landlord was planning on stepping in to reclaim the office space and would be tossing everything in it. They again insisted that I had to become the executor and deal with it all. I again told them I don't have to do anything and it was up to them whether they allowed the landlord to just toss it all. They hired an attorney to deal with it.