In New Jersey are there allowances for dependents to stay in the home if they have been living there for 7 yrs?

Igloo, in my instance Mom has 50K in CDs, small insurance policy, 13k, and SS and sm pension totaling1700 a month, and a falling down house. I had used most of the 50k for an AL. After 8 months at the AL and no sale of the house, I had to start thinking Medicaid. I called and was told that my nephew and Gson may be required to pay rent of $1600 a month. HUD guidelines for the size of the house, 4 bedrooms. The boys never slept upstairs. There was a room downstairs that my nephew used for a b/r and my gson chose to sleep in the living room on a daybed. The bath is on the ground floor. This was not to be a permanent situation. They would be required to pay utilities, etc. So, I got a lawyer using Moms money which was OKd by Medicaid. Ended up, the caseworker I got wasn't as picky as the one I talked to. He just wanted proof the house was up for sale. I cashed the 13k insurance policy in, got enough for a prepaid funeral. Mom private paid $18,600 ( took most of her money) for the first 2 months of the NH then Medicaid kicked in. I allowed the NH to be payee for Moms SS and pension. The boys pay utilities. I stopped paying taxes when Mom entered the NH. I have not been formally sent anything from Medicaid saying a lean has been put on the property but was able to get a letter so I knew what was owed to be able to price the sale lower. While she was alive, I was not allowed to lower the price. Had to get market value. But as the house sat there, more and more things went wrong. One reason for the lawyer. If we got a buyer he was going to negotiate with Medicaid to let me sell at a lower price. Lawyers services stopped at Moms death.
Not sure if you have to keep the house up. By law I am not responsible for Moms debts so can't see how they could make me pay. I would have closed up the house the day she went into the NH. All utilities would have been shut off, taxes and insurance not paid. I refuse to spend my retirement money on a house that is falling down. Its 125 years old. Once I find a place for disabled nephew, I will be shutting it down. The Township can have it for unpaid taxes. She only owes 6k to Medicaid since she was only on it for 3months. It always surprises me that people want to keep Mom/Dads house. TG I never had to deal with rent. Not sure if they would have made me keep up taxes. My lawyer told me not to pay them. Medicaid may not allow you to recoup the money when the house sells but they do have to allow the tax lean to be paid.

JoAnn - ok thanks. So no caregiver, you know the caregiver exemption sounds all terrific but there’s fine print on it. You have a full time job, no exemption; you cannot provide a letter from their MD in detail that you provided x,y,z in needed care for at least 2 years that kept them out of a facility prior to NH entry/ application, no exemption. If state does caregiver exemption as an after death process, getting their old mD to write a letter from years past for a now deceased patient may not be feasible plus they have to pay all property costs on the house which they cannot own till after the elders death, so runs risk. 

From what you’ve posted in the past, it seems that NJ is pretty rigid on Medicaid rules especially as to how exemptions and estate recovery is done. It’s not a pro property owner state like TX & FL are. Not pretty.

So is it that NJ - like other states - allows the LTC Medicaid recipient to keep their home as an exempt asset, BUT requires that the DPOA or family establish that they can afford all costs on the property? Like they have to provide wage/ income info in order for Medicaid to allow the house to be an exempt asset be get application approved?

I’ve heard anecdotally that some states require family who are living in the home to pay fmv rent to the elder property owner, which can snowball into a problem for their Medicaid eligibility for income as between their existing SS and the new “rental income” could take them over the income maximum. And you can’t do a Miller Trust for rental income as it’s not from a qualified guaranteed source.

If family have to pay rent, or provide some sort of escrow like account for property costs, I’d bet it totally makes family rethink “keeping maws house” as their expectations are to live there for free without encumbrance.

As an aside on this, speaking of escrow, federally backed RMs now require the borrower to show ability to pay the required insurance and taxes on the house. So they have to have income without the RM $ to be high enough to easily pay these costs. Otherwise they need to do an escrow like account for those costs before RM can be done. Where I am, in Louisiana, if you get a RM mortgage on your old paid off home, you will need 3 property insurance - homeowners, flood & windstorm. Often homeowner was used to paying an single old cheap homeowners policy. Lots cannot afford the new triple insurance costs required as the RM is new lending so cannot get federally backed RMs. Windstorm alone can be thousands of $$ as it’s pooled risk. 

Igloo, he has been turned down as caregiver. He is now trying to prove he can pay utilities and taxes. I think because he is going thru all this Dads Medicaid is being held up. He needs to be more specific what allowances he is looking for. I live in NJ and maybe able to help but need more info.

If by “allowances”, it’s that your asking of Medicaid to have $ that is your dads monthly income (like his SS) to be allowed to divert to you that imo is a nonstarter. The only categories for Medicaid that I’m aware of to do a wavier of your dads monthly income would be that there is a CS (community spouse) or the rare situation that the elder has a handicapped or disabled adult child that is their legal dependent (& has IRS & SSA filings  of long standing to document the “dependency”). Otherwise Medicaid basically requires all of your dads monthly income to be paid by dad to the NH as his Medicaid copay or SOC - share of cost. 

If your dad has a home, by & large Medicaid allows for him to keep the home as an exempt asset. HOWEVER,due to the copay requirement dad will have no-none-nada of his $ to pay a penny on house still in his name. Family will need to pay all property costs from day 1 of LTC Medicaid till beyond death. And then deal with however your state deals with Medicaid’s Estate Recovery system (MERP). 

If in the 7 years you lived at the house and provided full time caregiving that kept dad from entering a facility for a significant period of time, & you can document this, then you should qualify for the caregiver exemption to MERP. If your state takes the position that caregiver exemption or any other exemption or exclusions to MERP all are done as an after death process, then you kinda have to have the wallet to afford all property costs for an indefinite period of time and be ok with risk. 

If Medicaid is expecting you to pay rent to dad, this is going to get way complicated. 

Here is what I found on the New Jersey Human Services website:
www.state.nj.us/humanservices/dmahs/info/resources/manuals/

New Jersey Administrative Code TITLE 10. HUMAN SERVICES CHAPTER 60. HOME CARE SERVICES SUBCHAPTER 3. PERSONAL CARE ASSISTANT (PCA) SERVICES

§ 10:60-3.8 Limitations on personal care assistant services

TITLE 10. HUMAN SERVICES, § 10:60-3.8 Limitations on personal care assistant services

(a) Medicaid and NJ FamilyCare-Plan A reimbursement shall not be made for personal care assistant services provided to Medicaid or NJ FamilyCare-Plan A beneficiaries in the following settings: 1. A residential health care facility; 2. A Class C boarding home; 3. A hospital; 4. A nursing facility; 5. Licensed pediatric community transition homes; 6. DDD group homes, skill development homes, supervised apartments or other congregate living programs where personal care assistance is provided as part of a service package which is included in the living arrangement; 7. DYFS-supervised group homes for children ...

Since your dad is already in a nursing home and is “Medicaid pending 6 months”; then “No.”--You are not entitled to receiving payment for personal care assistant services because you are NO LONGER providing that service to your Dad.

Who owns the house that you (and your Dad?) have been living in for 7 years? If your Dad is the owner, then when the house is sold, Medicaid will most likely require that the profits from the sale of the house be given to them (Medicaid) as reimbursement for the money that they have already paid towards your Dad’s care in the nursing home and not to you or any other heir.
Hope that this answers your question.

Your post is a little confusing. If you are asking for NJ to allow you to keep a portion of parent’s income for you to stay in parent’s Home and pay bills for you since you are unemployed? Not if you are not providing care directly at home and keeping parent out of nursing home.

Sorry, what kind of allowances. I think allowing you to stay at the house as you pay the upkeep is pretty good. They could be asking you to pay rent that would be used for Dads care. If you are collecting unemployment you have worked. How would you be considered a dependent? Really need more info in what ur looking for.