Medicaid and housing question when multiple people are on the deed to the house?

It all depends on how the deed is written - if it's a joint tenant in the entirety or joint ownership with survivor's rights, then the house goes to the last person living and no shares are subject to being inherited by anyone until there's only one person living - then his/her will/heirs come into play. In any case, if there are 3 names on the deed then three signatures were required for any mortgage - the loan could have been made in anyone's name but all three owners of the house must have signed agreeing to put the house up to guarantee the loan. If the loan is in all three names, then whoever is paying it, the transaction (credit wise) is still being reported in all three names.

Medicaid is not in the real estate business, they don’t take or seize a home. But can place a lien or a claim on a home owned by a elder on Medicaid. Just how done interdependent on how Medicaid managed in your state & your states laws for property and probate.

The home right now with 3 owners & 1 of them estranged is a crisis waiting to hit imho. I’d suggest you & Hubs approach your MIL with a plan to pay off the mortgage and if you want to stay there you & hubs buy it and in your name as a couple as sole owners. You all and MIL present a united front to make FIL agreeable to this. Done ASAP.

As a first start in this, find mortgage agreement to see under what conditions can mortgage be changed. It probably needs to be paid off, that is usually what is required.... old mortgage gets “struck”& cancelled and new mortgage issued Simultaneously. If you & hubs need to get a new mortgage, then try to get old mortgage co to do the lending to you so it’s all in-house and will make it easier & less paperwork costs. If you find you’re going to need $$ for down payment then start saving to get this done ASAP. Even if the amount of $ needed to borrow is small, still try to do a downpayment as interest rate less & MIP can be lower or not needed. That you’ve been 100% paying the mortgage doesn’t matter unfortunately as it shows as payments credited to all 3 owners on the mortgage.

To me this is a bigger issue to deal with than potentially needing Medicaid later on as some whenever date....

But should Medicaid be a factor, You want to get this done so if...
1. either or both your MIL and FIL are needing LTC and applying for Medicaid in the future & the home will not be an asset subject to Medicaid eligibility and Estate Recovery later on &
2. the situation with FIL is estranged then getting him to agree to changes now & before he gets ill or has dementia will be a good thing. Doing things now before there’s a crisis is best as if there’s not a good relationship with him and his family it could get ugly fast &
3. And you just have to protect your equity in the house. If you & hubs did not pay the mortgage $ each month to your MIL, could MIL pay it? How are all other property costs, like taxes and insurance, etc. being paid? If you & hubs are paying 100% on his 1/3 interest & mom’s 1/3 as well, you need to change this no matter what, no matter whether Medicaid might/might not happen. You’re gonna be super peeved if FIL keels over dead and he’s done a will or codicil to his old will that now leaves his share of his 1/3 ownership to a girlfriend or nephew who hates your mom. This stuff happens, this site has many tales of woe....

As as far as paying mil & fIL their equity share of 2/3, I’d tally up everything you have paid on it past 5 years and get them to agree to let you have the home with no $ back to them. Hopefully they each agree. Then you do what you can to help them stay healthy so that there is no need for a facility & applying to Medicaid till after Fall, 2023 and beyond the 5 yr mark for Medicaids look back. Good luck.