Can a spouse get Medicaid without husband's knowledge?

I think you need to consult a lawyer. This isn't a typical situation.

The only part of this I can answer is that yes, a person can get Medicaid if they have $2,000 or less. If they own a home, when they die, Medicaid will place a lien on the house and recoup the amount that was spent during the persons lifetime while in Medicaid.
I agree with Jeanne, this is a situation for an attorney.

Good luck and keep us posted...

I am not an attorney, but I think if the houses are jointly owned with both names on the deeds, neither party owns 100% of the house... instead they each own half. Therefore I would assume that if Medicaid does put a lien on each house, it would be for half of the value of the homes.

As Jeannegibbs and CarolC had mentioned above, see an Elder Law attorney... each State has their own rules and regulations.

Yes, Medicaid does differ from state to state. In my state for example, it is a 50/50 state and freqflyer is correct, the lien's would only be for 50% of each house.
Too bad they didn't go ahead and get a divorce, this would be much simpler.

From what you wrote, Medicaid in your stepmother's state missed some assets, perhaps because they were out of state. Selling them and giving her half may cause problems, so it is good to consult an attorney. The flip side of that is that it wouldn't be fair that your father should not be able to sell the houses to help with his care. It might be that he can sell the houses and she can spend down her share, then reapply for Medicaid. That way your father would have access to the money and no one would have to continue paying upkeep on the properties. Are these properties perhaps being rented by someone else? That would be a different matter.

Definitely talk to an attorney who knows about Medicaid and property. It will be money well spent. I am sure your father doesn't want to make things difficult for your stepmother, but he does need to handle the properties.

Thanks JessieBelle. The homes are not rented and dad has been paying taxes, insurance and maintenance on both properties, which is ridiculous since this money could be used for his future care. He actually owned the properties prior to the marriage but quit claimed them from his name only to jointly with wife. I would love for him to be able to sell the homes. With the sale, and 1/2 the equity he would have enough funds to pay for long term care for two years. He lives with me and I want to keep him at home as long as possible, however, I do worry about paying for his future needs.

This definitely needs really good legal to deal with. Elder law involved but it's really a divorce atty with property rights issue IMHO first & foremost as he is not immediately needing a facility.

I'd try to find out what is required for a QCD to be valid in both states. You need to get the chain of documents for ach property - these should be a low-cost on-line down load from the courthouse in each state. I'd try to be this done in advance of the arty apptment. For items over maybe a decade or so, this will have to be pulled by hand by the courthouse staff so takes a few days. So get on this ASAP. I'd bet you can go to FL courthouse and walk this through -take small bills cash and go about 9:30 (courts in session so its down time)and be nice to courthouse ladies as they can get this done tout suite. If QCD wasn't written correcrtly or recorded it could be invalid.

QCDs have all sorts of issues for selling property to start with as there is NO guarantee of ownership. That is only by a warranty deed. QCD can work like when they are accompanied by a judges order -like in a divorce when spouse QCDs home to other spouse & it's included in the divorce decree. But otherwise QCDs have issues as it only conveys what the person thinks they own & it has to be properly written & recorded. I'd bet a decent mad-dog level divorce atty could get the QCDs invalidated so they are totally dads assets.

Now for her family....well they know she was married, so somebody filed a fraudulent Medicaid application on her in her state. If she has been on medicaid beyond a year, they have filed fraudulent renewals as well. Bad..very bad for them. Good...very good for you. This is leverage for dads divorce atty to use in all this. Let us know what happens too!

Update: I met with an attorney that confirmed my suspicions. If dad divorces his wife now he may still be liable for her debts up to the point of divorce finalized. He also reviewed the QC and said it was legal. Attorney suggested other options to find out if wife is on Medicaid and we talked about what legal options dad has if she is. Thanks to each of you for taking the time to answer my questions and for all the support I have received from this forum.

Update: I met with attorney and he thinks stepmother unlikely on Medicaid because it is very easy for them to find out if the applicant is married and what properties they own. If we find out differently he explained legal actions that could be taken to insure Dad's primary residence in FL would not be included in Medicaid recovery and that he could sell the home . We now need to do more research. Thanks to everyone for taking the time answer!

Also atty needs to do whatever to limit dads exposure to actions done by estranged wife & her family. Really divorce atty would be better at this. If your appointment is with an edier law atty please vett him out as to exoerience with dads situtation. A good NAELA certified atty will have affiliations with divorce atty as well as FA & CPA as needed. I'd be concerned that most elder law attny are single atty offices with too narrow a focus & not skilled with multi-state property & divorce issues to be best suited for your dads situation.