How long does it take Medicaid to request payback after death?

That money from her spend down is hers. As is the PNA (personal needs acct). I never had Medicaid ask for either. I showed the NH my short certificate, and I was sent a check for her PNA. Since Mom only had $184 in her acct, I asked Medicaid if I could close the acct. They allowed it.

Her home will have a lean put on it. Doesn't matter who it is left to. When the house is sold, the lean will need to be paid. If, a family member has been living in the house as their primary residence and that had been Moms main residence, at time she entered LTC, the person may be able to stay in the house. A lean will still be put on the house but not recouped until the person living there dies or sells the house.

There was a post where Medicaid didn't come after the house until 3 yrs after the person passed. By that time the house had been sold and monies split between beneficiaries. The poster hasn't returned to tell us what happened.

Me, I knew there would be a lean, so I contacted Medicaid and received a letter telling me what was owed. When a lean was never put on the house, I contacted the state and found paperwork had been sent to the NH who was suppose to send it back to the state with contact info for Mom. They sent me the paperwork and now a lean is on the house. Because of tax leans, Moms house maybe taken by the County. I wanted to make sure the lean was in place so it didn't come back on me yrs down the line.

NO, if a person dies with no assets, Medicaid CANNOT go after the family. MERP is NOT allowed to go after the family!

the only thing Medicaid can acquire is if something (cash, home, for example) goes into PROBATE. estate planning with an eldercare attorney prevents probate.

Given that the taxpayers have been funding her care as a Medicaid recipient, it seems reasonable that money from the sale of the house should go back to the state as reimbursement.

However, random internet articles do seem to imply that it's possible to avoid a recovery claim on a house in Texas. For example:

https://www.dallaselderlawyer.com/10-ways-to-protect-my-home-or-sales-proceeds-from-medicaid-estate-recovery/

"Ladybird Deeds – the state has a right to make a claim on assets that pass by probate or by intestate (without a will) succession. This type of enhanced life estate deed (which can be done in several ways) avoids probate and intestate succession and does not result in a transfer penalty even if signed within five years from the date of Medicaid application. As long as this is done before the Medicaid recipient’s death, it should avoid a successful claim."

Legal advice from the internet is worth what you paid for it of course!

If the value of her estate will be $1700, if that’s all she will have to her name when she dies, then She’s exempt from MERP. They don’t get after estates under $10k in Texas.

If she owned a home, MERP won’t come after it if it poses an undue hardship to her heirs or if it will cost more to sell the house than it is worth.

Read through this and see if any of it applies to your situation https://hhs.texas.gov/laws-regulations/legal-information/your-guide-medicaid-estate-recovery-program

What if the deceased has zero assets upon their death? No house, no stocks, literally nothing. Would the family have to pay back Medicaid LTC?

If the house was put in a trust to the family, Medicaid can't touch it

Poor people go on Medicaid....that's the purpose of it, they owe nothing when they die. Just went through this....

If you are saying she is in a facility and Medicaid pays for her bed, there would have been a MERP form signed when she was admitted saying you agree to recovery of payments Medicaid made while she received benefits. The state would be looking at her estate at time of death - her assets that are listed in a probate. State could file a claim against the estate. Depending on how her bank account was set up, that money may not be a part of the probated estate. If you had the house set up in something like the lady bird deed (no relationship to Lady Bird Johnson as some people think), that house would not be a part of the probated estate either.
If she's at home getting social security (because she/her husb had earnings in their life) plus some SSI with the Medicaid (because her social security earnings were below a poverty level threshold), it's possible the payment she received in the month she dies will be taken back.
You really need to talk to an estate planner to find out what will be taken back and how the house will be treated. Medicaid worker may offer some advice, but they are not allowed to give legal advice.

I've been reading all answers with great interest as this estate recovery issue seems to be a Federal mandate yet the states are allowed to put their own twist on this practice.
When we can not even get a consistent answer, if any answer at all, I take that to mean there is really no organized way of handling things. Lack of organization leads to lack of information - including when to expect the flurry of documents that arrive at an undetermined time after death.

The only common thread seems to be that it applies to the estates of those who were age 55 or older when they received services. Each state uses a Federal mandate and tries to tweak it how it sees fit. 50 different takes on a law + thousands of individuals and families involved. Maybe a Federal mandate states how many days the states have to notify families of when to begin repayment of the total bill.

I signed papers that require any remaining monies in a personal trust or bank account (owned exclusively by the deceased) to be "immediately" sent to the state. Papers signed also require agreeing to "Expanded" recovery. This means real and personal property that normally passes without Probate is now up for grabs by the state. This is another example of 50 ways to claim repayment for nursing home care.

In our state since your mom has deeded it to you upon death (instead of at least 5 years before she ever got Medicaid) that means she would still have an interest in the property up until her date of death. I would check on the deed to the house to determine if the state can still claim it using either the 5 year rule or the "Expanded" definition of estate.

Our state can expand it's recovery efforts to property inherited by spouses and families. Spouses might be allowed to keep some or all up to their date of death, at which point the state is supposed to collect. So again, nothing for heirs as the parent still owes the state. The families are only supposed to receive anything leftover after the nursing home bill is paid off.

Monies in a regular checking account or a QIT or other trust account are not refunded to the estate or heirs. If my spouse died today, I am supposed to immediately close the QIT, valued at $12.00. I am supposed to write the check for $12.00 and mail it to the state. His personal account at the nursing home would yield about $35.00. The state would thus collect $47.00.

It might not be cost effective, but those funds can not be kept by his estate or me according to the rules. I've not been able to varify, but I think the nursing home has to mail it's $47.00 to the state. So the state will process the $47.00 repayment received from my spouse's estate.

Our state has not given any timeline for this rest of the recovery, just that it gets started sometime after death.