Medicaid and 529. Can anyone help?

Lisa; if your brother is your mom's guardian, then HE is responsible for her well-being just as though she was his child.

He will need to arrange for her to be cared for with her funds and whatever entitlements she has. It's ALL on his shoulders. You have every right to walk away and not get roped into giving up your life/career.

Just remember that "no" is a complete sentence. If you mom has put money into a 529 plan for your kids, just leave it as it is unless you hear differently from a certified ElderCare attorney.

" I feel like I'm going to have to feel the brunt of this if he doesn't (me having to either pay for my mom or have her live with me.)"

Why? Why would he get off scot-free? If he can't pay back the money, then he gets to take care of your mother in his home. She's HIS mother, too, and HE (his family) got the $25,000.

I'm scratching my head as to why you think YOU have to be the one who gets dumped on because of HIS mistake. This is an example of how sons get away with it all and a daughter is expected to pick up the pieces.

I am a estate planner, I consult with elder attorneys, I have seen this before in Florida, and the 529 can count as an asset, but, it depends on when it was transferred. I would call your state Medicaid office and ask them directly, as each state's guidelines are a little different, As for you doing the same thing now...don't.

Lisa, to be honest what is worrying me now is what your brother told your mother when he asked her to transfer the accounts. The difficulty is that she did that - she "gave" the money to him. I don't doubt it was his idea, but it was her doing and it's her Medicaid eligibility that may suffer. Showing that this originated with him could get quite unpleasant.

And when you say your brother failed to complete the inventory, it does begin to whiff a bit, doesn't it. Are you able to have a frank conversation with him and spell out to him that what he seems to have in mind is definitely not clever? You need above all to find out whether he can give it back.

Have you considered turning him into APS for financial exploitation of a vulnerable senior?

If he gets bailed out can he do anything else that would cost you?

Why can't she live with him?

I am sorry that you are going through this and feel you have no recourse.

Lisa, your mother has money for an elder attorney. She's got the money in your 529, for a start.

But the actual point is that this is your mother's problem, and she is the one who needs the legal advice if anybody does. Her money, her problem, not yours.

I have to agree that your brother makes a cautionary tale for anyone thinking through their POA choices right now.

Are you on reasonably good everyday speaking terms with your bro? Or has it always been a bit prickly between you?

Those are questions for a lawyer. As I said on your other posts, there are legal ways to transfer the funds without affecting Medicaid elifibility but only a lawyer can tell you if your brother did it the correct way. If your mom needs Medicaid now then it is likely going to be too late to transfer the remaining 529 account & shield it from Medicaid but that is where the lawyer also comes in. It might not be too late to do it.

It's looking like they aren't going to get the transferred 529s back to my mom. The amount was about $25K. An elder attorney I spoke with (it was a coworker of a friend so I didn't ask a lot of questions since she was just giving me free advice and limited to what she could tell me) told me that for the Medicaid penalty, the cost of nursing home care is $8200 in Michigan, even though my mom isn't in a NH, she's still in AL and on the waiver program.

So would I take that $25,000 and divide by the $8,200 = 3.04, so around 3 months of a penalty (ie: them not paying for her care??) so my brother and I would have to come up with this money? Is that how this works? Anyone? OMG I can't wait to be done with this. My head is spinning with all of the info!

If your brother got the money why do you have to pay for her care? He did this and should have to pay the price for his choices.

I agree with Isthisrealyreal. It's not your mess, as you wrote earlier.