Hi all,
My MIL passed recently, and she had Medicaid. She also owned a manufactured home, solely in her name. Before she passed, our family paid for her to live in an assisted living, spending upwards of $40K. Before she passed, our plan was to sell her home, pay ourselves back and she would live with us. However, she passed suddenly, and her home is not sold. We are not on her title, but my husband is the beneficiary in her Will. We also are not POA, POD, no trusts, nothing was set in stone for her passing sadly.
As for my questions... We want to get our money back, and thought we could either transfer the title upon death to my husband with her Will OR place a lien on her home in attempt to get our owed funds before Medicaid. Is there a better route? Also, her Will states that all debts are to be paid before the beneficiaries, how will this affect things?
We are lost here and haven't dealt with this before, but we are certain Medicaid will likely come to recover assets, as she was in the hospital and other care a LOT in the last 10 years.
There is a hierarchy to who gets paid first. It's always the government (Medicaid, IRS, court fees). Then, it's the funeral home or crematorium, then the attorney, then other creditors (hospitals, doctors). If there's anything money, property or assets left when probate closes, the heirs get any inheritance that's left.
Whatever you paid towards the care of your LO is not included. You can only recover money if you are the only heir and there is inheritance left, or the other inheritors agree to contribute a part of their inheritance to cover the costs (and you will need to provide receipts as proof).
The executor now has to gather all information of assets to present to probate. The executor will pay for the newspaper legal notice to see if any further bills come in. Beleive me when I say that businesses and many people read these notices. When the judge gets that information then a letter of tesimony will be sent to the executor to have authority to make payments and liquidate.
The executor has the ability to hire people to clean out the home, such as paying for a dumpster, in preparation to sell. In my case, it took me 4 months to get that letter plus hours of work on my own time with 1 week up to 60 hours of my time. To add further to my job, I had to close a small business to which had a sole beneficiery that was not me. My hours of work was far more than the $5000 distribution to that beneficiery. Remember this well!
There is also any named beneficiaries that will be paid off first. If your husband is the primary beneficiery and ends up with the largest chunk of money, then it will be up to him to decide if he wants to distribute his share evenly among the group. In the eyes of the law, might look different to the "we"
Can you clarify: she was on AL being privately paid for by your family members. Then she needed a different level of care and qualified for Medicaid? For LTC?
If so, Medicaid puts a lien on a house but not sure about a manufactured home. Do not do anything until her estate goes through probate. If her home is appraised for more than $75K then in most states her estate will need to go into probate. Be very careful about moving her money or assets around, or changing titles, etc. If she didn't leave a Will then everything will need to go through the court system and this is a strict process and takes time, and possibly money to file the paperwork. You will need to research this online. Someone will probably need to apply to become her estate's Personal Representative. Your family may benefit from pooling money and paying for a 2-hr consultation with a certified elder law attorney to know what to do.
If your MIL was on Medicaid and there was a recovery lien put on her home, then the next owners/heirs may need to pay off the lien before taking possession of it. But again, much can vary by state and other details and circumstances that you don't include here.
I can't emphasize enough: don't do anything until you know all the legal facts and ramifications!
She was on Medicaid long before going to AL. We then paid out of pocket to a private AL facility, none of Medicaid covered. I know manufactured homes are seen as automobiles so I’m not sure how that may play a role. We live in Colorado and she died nearly 3 weeks ago.
We are researching some attorneys as well, but was hoping to get any insight here first.
Your mother was in care and on Medicaid. Medicaid will now have a claim on her estate.
If she died without any will then she died intestate. Whomever in the family best qualified to serve to administer her estate will now have to file probate. The Medicaid will send a letter as to what assets were listed in her estate when she entered their care. The manufactured home will likely go to lien placed on it.
Medicaid is not interested in what your family did or did not do to pay for mother's care prior to her requiring the help of the government. That was a decision your family made to "gift your mother" if there are no loan papers drawn up to prove it was a loan. I would have advised you not to use funds that you will soon enough require for your OWN aging care, but you apparently chose to do this without advice.
You should consult an attorney to see what options there may be.
I am very sorry for your loss.