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My husband and I have a mobile home on my mother-in-law's property, which is only in mine and his name. She has her own mobile home on the property and also owns my deceased brother-in-law's mobile home which is here. Her home is 26 years old and my brother-in-law's is even older, possibly around 40 years old, so they probably wouldn't sell for very much. The land itself is maybe 1.5 or 1.75 acres and she owns one vehicle. She already gets a disability check and is already on Medicare and Medicaid. She is showing signs of dementia and will need NH care very soon. She was actually in the NH for rehab for about 3 or 4 weeks due to multiple blood clots in her lungs, as well as a massive clot in her leg. Anyway, the land is in her name and she wants to protect her property from Medicaid, especially since we are living on the property. She doesn't want us out on the street. I've read online that Medicaid could go after the land even if there was a life estate deed. Would it be better if she just transferred the property over to my husband or is a life estate deed the way to go? Can Medicaid still go after the land if she does do a life estate deed? I know they'll disqualify her for a few months either way and I'll be taking care of her during that time. We just want to protect all of our interests. I doubt that Medicaid would grant us an undue hardship waiver since we're not generating income from the property. We can't afford to move our mobile home and have nowhere to move it to anyway if we did move it. We also cannot afford to outright buy the land as we are living on one income, just getting by. My husband works while I stay home taking care of our kids and will be taking care of my mother-in-law as well. She already does have Medicare and Medicaid and is also well below the $2000 monthly limit. What are the laws for Alabama?

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This is something that is on the mind of many people who care for elderly parents. There is a splendid pdf file on "Protections in Medicaid Estate Recovery" that was released in 2007. It is dated, but very readable. I can't post a link here, but you can google the words and the document will come up. It may give you some ideas. Unfortunately, Alabama didn't participate in the study that was done, but it will give some idea of how to prepare yourself.
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Another thing you can do is talk to a lawyer about setting up a special trust for the land. I do not understand these trusts well, so I won't comment. Your mother can gift the property to you, but there will be a calculated penalty that goes with this. I would seek legal advice from someone who understands Medicaid in Alabama and decide what to do from there. You may fall easily under the hardship clause for the state, and you may also qualify for caregiver exemption.

One thing that I have yet to be able to find out is if caregivers in Alabama get the property outright if it was left to them in the will or if they receive a life estate. I've asked some people, but no one knows.
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Thanks! I saw something mentioned about trusts when I was researching online and it's all very confusing. She actually signed her land over to my nephew about 8 or 9 years ago but then had him sign it back over to her last year. I wish she'd kept it in his name now and we wouldn't have to deal with this.
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