Will Medicaid count my savings account as an asset if Mom's name is also on it?

Keneri, who's social security number is listed on the account?

My social security, not my Mom's.

If it is all your money, then there should be no problem. The main problem would come if funds were mingled. I hope that it doesn't cause any trouble with your application.

Change ownership to your name only, and payable on death to mom. Or, be prepared to show the deposits are only from your income.

If she has dementia she should not be on your account--anybody can trick her into taking money out of your account. All she has to do is sign her name on a check and it's a done. Since it is your account, you can have her name removed from it very easily.

Please call and meet with an eldercare attorney before you do anything. some of the answers don't seem quite right. it will be worth your money.

You should remove her name from all of your accounts. It does count as her income if she has access to the account. With her name on it, she technically has access to it. And as another person said, if she has dementia she is susceptible to being taken advantage of, someone could get your account info from her. Better safe than sorry.

Medicaid will presume that any money in any account with her name on it is hers, unless you can show that only you contributed to it. This is because many people have tried the opposite: to claim that an elder's money is theirs simply because the child's name is on the account for convenience, so that the elder can qualify for Medicaid sooner. This does not work and they will look right through it. Ergo the presumption that any jointly titled account really belongs to the elder. But you can rebut this by showing contribution.

I agree with "grannysmith" good advice. You don't need to contact a elderly attorney just listen to those that have been through it. States will differ, I'm in OH and have been there. Take her off the accounts, believe me medicaid will try to drain everything if her name is on the account. Save the money from spending on a lawyer, you will need it. Good luck @ take care

For the benefit of others in this situation: If you want someone who's not your spouse to be able to step in during an emergency to pay the phone and electric bill, etc, create a separate smaller account which includes their name. If it's primarily in your name, i.e, under YOUR social security number, it's yours (and you report income from it on YOUR tax return.)

Please seek the advice of and Elder Law Attorney. They know all the rules and regulations and the know the legal and ethical ways to protect funds and the proper ways to create financial eligibility. Our state denied 79% of all applications last year. Get help.

If I'm not mistaken, Medicaid will do a five year "look back" to see if funds have been juggled to be protected from them, so I'm hoping that removing her name from your account won't be a red flag for them. Since you haven't co-mingled funds, it seems reasonable that they would see that it's solely your property. I agree that you need an attorney.
Since your mom has dementia, who would manage her care if you were to pass away? I would call the bank to see if you can arrange for your account to have a beneficiary or put it into a trust with that person or institution as successor trustee to avoid probate. It's complicated!

Medicaid will attack your assets as well if you share an account as part of the estate if something happens. There is no way for them to determined what is attached to each person. I recommend you to open you a new account for yourself. Keep the existing account as is if your mother's check is deposited in that account. Hope this helps.

I think it would all depend on what the rules are where you live, definitely check it out with your local Medicaid office and see what they say. 

Meanwhile, why not provide just a little more information so that we know what's going on. Is she contributing to the account? If she's making deposits into this account, then she is part owner and may not be just a  trustee. 

Is there any other way you can set this up to make her a beneficiary should anything happen to you? Is there a separate account you can set up such as a POD that goes to her should something happen to you? Of course if anything were to happen to her, you would need to update the beneficiary on the POD account

I totally agree with what rbbear03 and carolgigi said. Hire a good eldercare attorney who is well versed in getting people "Medicaid Ready". I can tell you how things worked with my mom and Medicaid, but every state has their own rules/regulations. This is far too important to not have good legal advise. The money and time I spent to make sure everything was correct, was definitely money and time well spent (and I didn't have surplus of either.) Good luck and best wishes.

Take her name off. On the reverse side; I had my name on my mother's account (due to mom's dementia) . I had 2 attorneys tell me to take my name off. I am listed as POA but not as an account holder.

The reason - if you have joint ownership with someone when the time comes, Medicaid or anyone else may want to know what other joint assets the two of you may have. Then you may have the possibility of people looking into your assets.

Also it's not just Medicaid - this could be a disgruntled relative, a law suite etc. Keep you and your mom's assets separate

You need to go see a "Medicaid" attorney !
I am coming to the end of applying for Medicaid for my mother in law but it may be in your social security number but when the time of application come you have to prove where did the money come from ?

From their point of view:
Who is to say it was not all your mom's money gone into your savings ?
As much as you know it was not your mother's you have to "Prove it" to them.


Money:
You have to prove what this is for ? ( It has to be spent in your mom's care and needs)
Where the money came from ?
Where the money went ?
Prove that any payment of a debt that the check was cashed !

Beware anything of cash value will be taken from your mom!
If she has a Burial Policy with cash in value it will be taken from her.
Therefore it may be valued $12,000 they take it all or cash it in yourself and may only get $2000 !

Then you have to buy a brand new pre paid Burial Policy with no cash value !
Just happened to my mother in law.

In Texas any income over $2000 per month you will not Qualify for Medicaid
So you have to see a Medicaid attorney in which to put any excess money over $2000 into a trust.

Personally, I agree with mumtothree - Mediaid will require proof. AND, if you take your mother's name off now, they most likely will look at it as if you are trying to keep it from them.  You don't need to add Fraud to the situation.
I always go to the source - get in touch with Medicaid and ask them what proof they will need to know it is your money and not Mom's.

We have opinions - if you contact Medicaid directly, you have a better chance of knowing exactly what is needed.

The proof Medicaid will require will be

1: A copy of all checks from which account the money come from, and was deposited into the account with your mom's name on it, a statement from the savings you have with your mom's name on it to prove the checks were cashed into that account.

Any direct deposits of cash has no "proof" where it come from, or who put it in there. !
If you cannot provide this proof it could lead to a penalty !

"Penalties":
If a nursing home cost $5000 per month !
An applicant gave away $20,000 !

The $20,000 could provide 4 months care in a nursing home. Therefore Medicaid will not cover you for a further 4 months.

Note:
Your mom will have to be in a nursing home before she can apply for Medicaid.

One thing you can do, even though I have no idea how much is in the account. Pre pay for the nursing home with the money as it is viewed as your mom's care and needs during the application of 4-6 weeks for Medicaid. Then once you qualify, Medicaid reimburses the month of nursing home fee from the date of the application to the time of decision. Then you will get the money back in your hands. Medicaid will not reimburse you through the penalty period.

A Medicaid attorney is your best option as believe me there is far more involved than you think, I had to go back to 2010 and get 4 years of bank statements to provide evidence of a loan paid back. Even though a person has paid you back a loan you have to prove the applicant received the money from you in the first place and it may not have been given in one lump sum.

I thought they looked at a 5 yr history. Maybe you can withdraw all the money and reopen another account at a different bank.

Yes they do proceed with what they call a "5 Year Look back" look back through all your history over the past 5 years on what assets, you have or had, if sold what happened to the money, have you sold anything for less than its market value, have you given any money away as a gift.

You should definitely get an elder law attorney retained. You will need it because of the rules Medicaid establishes. They may, quite likely, classify all funds in the bank account(s) the elder's money and Medicaid will disqualify.

I would not change anything at this point. A lawyer is a good thing. I took my Mom's name off of my Nephew's acct years ago because a lawyer suggested it.

If you had an able account that's newly available, you could put extra money in there and not worry about this qualifying yourself. The able act was passed in order to give people getting federal benefits a better life by giving us a chance to save up more than just a little bit of money. The only thing though is if something were to happen to you, I read somewhere that Medicaid can and would grab the funds to compensate for any money they spent on you.
I think these are the savings accounts Trump was talking about when he was talking about Medicaid. If you need something Medicaid won't cover, the able account will be able to cover it for you as long as there's enough in the account. This is not all you can use your able account funds for either. In fact, there are about 10 different qualifying expenses with which you can use your funds from your able account.

For instance:

No car? No problem when you have an able account.

Medicaid won't cover something? No problem when you have an able account with enough funds to cover that expense.

You can now open an able account in any state (but you can only have one). This used to be restricted to just residents of your own state but now it's open to anyone who qualifies for one. For instance, if you get SSI, Medicaid and food stamps, you're automatically eligible for an able account.

Research the able account page and you'll find 10 different expenses with which you can use your funds from your able account.

Lastly, you will also get a debit card that comes with your able account. It can be used like any other card at the checkout. Just be sure to stay within the rules of using the able account if you don't want the IRS to come knocking. Definitely keep very good records as to what you spent your funds on so that you don't get taxed for using your funds. As long as you keep good records and only spend money on qualifying expenses, you'll have no problem as long as you stay within the guidelines

Consult an attorney. You have to presume that Medicaid will go after whatever assets they can. I heard of a situation where close a million dollars in assets were being seized by Medicaid.

DontAsk, I thought disability had to manifest before age 26 to qualify for ABLE account. It is an excellent way for a Medicaid recipient to save in excess of the $2000 cap on assets, but may not be such a good place to "park" money for someone who is merely old. And it is still subject to estate recovery, but will not prevent the applicant's receipt of Medicaid-funded services during their lifetime. (So the conventional wisdom is 'spend ABLE funds first.')

You can spend it by paying for a private room, as a Medicaid room will be semi private.

Note:
Not all Elder Law attorneys deal with "Medicaid" !
I contacted an Elder Law attorney but does not deal with Medicaid !
Look for "Medicaid Attorney".
So much savings can be put into a trust !
Each month so much goes to the nursing home and resident receives so much.

But beware some trusts once the money goes in if that person passes away that is the end of the money !

I understand that things will be getting a lot more difficult with Medicaid if the new proposed health care plan goes through. It includes major cuts to Medicaid spending across the board.

mumtothree,

Disability benefits can be given to disabled people of any age. In my particular case, I was rescued from my abusive alcoholic parents who happened to have also killed my only bio sister two years before my birthday. I barely survived what killed my sister in 1965. I don't know how they got me the SSI or how long I had it, I'm assuming since age 13 since I became a ward of the state.

As for the able accounts, anyone getting any federal benefits from the government can get an able account. You may want to be very careful though, if you happen to go into the negative at your regular bank and it comes back to you're able account provider as ISF, you can get charged a very hefty fee, even if you had to withdraw money from your able account and back to the account at your regular bank to make it right. Today June 1, 2017 today was payday and I sent most of my money to my able account after bills were deducted. I can withdraw money later and have it sent back to the account specified. Anyone getting Social Security can have an able account. There are 10 different qualifying expenses for which you can use those funds. It was set up to be an investment account, but you can choose the bank safe option at set up. This is the safest way if you can't afford to lose any money through an investment that goes south. The banks safe option is FDIC insured, which is the option I selected since I have no financial help outside of my SSI and I badly need a car due to certain medical needs. I also have an estate open for my dad because someone things are pointing more and more to someone likely having taken advantage of my bio dad with Alzheimer's. The person who was his POA may have stolen from him and may have to return some property that may have been gained fraudulently since he wasn't competent to make competent decisions despite having Alzheimer's for years before he finally died with it. Come to find out through the funeral home who buried him, I now know who exercised POA for my dad and chances are possible that just from my recent findings, this person is at it again because between her and the funeral home, I was never contacted until UniCARE finally was able to find me. Whatever comes off the estate is going straight into my able account after a well needed car is obtained. The able account will help recipients to avoid the risks of having to use trusts because trustees very often aren't trustworthy. If you happen to be getting any type of Social Security from the US treasury in your state, you can apply for an able account if you also have Medicaid and food stamps.

Come to recall, my foster dad had me on his account and we were both on federal benefits and no one ever bothered us. He had me on there for quite a while and he got more than me. The only rule he had was that the bills had to be paid before we touched any of the extra money. After bills, the extra money was fair game for whatever we needed it for, and not once did Medicaid ever bother us.