my mother and I have a joint checking account that i pay her bills from. She now has to apply for MEDICAID can they take the money even if my name is on the account?
What type of "joint" account? - if it is an account that only get's her SS, etc and you are just a signature on the account to pay bills or manage financials for her, then whatever is in the account will be looked at as her assets for Medicaid review. The bank account is solely in mom's SS number. This is what I have with my mom & I am POD on it. BUT - if it is an account that gets mom's money and you have your income deposited into it too, then there will be a problem. You are "commingling" the accounts and because of that you likely will have to document what is your funds and what is your mom's in order for the money in the joint checking account NOT to be viewed as totally mom's & subject to spend-down. This will be totally sticky and I'd suggest you get an elder law attorney to deal with this.
My mom's Medicaid application require hard documentation to show her assets and income. For my mom it was 3 years and 6 months of all banking in her asset review. That's a long period of time, if you have to recreate where the $ went.
Commingling accounts is a big NO for Social Security Adminstration too.
I would imagine Laws could be different by what state you live in, but not sure. When my Mother was still alive, her & I had a joint checking account, and then a time came when I could no longer care for her after her 2 surgeries, and she went to a NH and eventually had to apply for MEDICAID. There was never that much in her checking account, but I still had bills to pay (monthly fee for NH, her secondary Insurance, etc) and MEDICAID never took ANY of that money. My suggestion would be to talk to the Bank Branch Manager, but I don't think they can.
I do know my Bank Manager helped me a great deal when it came to Mom's finances & how to handle things Wishing you the very Best ! Looking forward to seeing what others have to say.
- if it is an account that only get's her SS, etc and you are just a signature on the account to pay bills or manage financials for her, then whatever is in the account will be looked at as her assets for Medicaid review. The bank account is solely in mom's SS number. This is what I have with my mom & I am POD on it.
BUT
- if it is an account that gets mom's money and you have your income deposited into it too, then there will be a problem. You are "commingling" the accounts and because of that you likely will have to document what is your funds and what is your mom's in order for the money in the joint checking account NOT to be viewed as totally mom's & subject to spend-down. This will be totally sticky and I'd suggest you get an elder law attorney to deal with this.
My mom's Medicaid application require hard documentation to show her assets and income. For my mom it was 3 years and 6 months of all banking in her asset review. That's a long period of time, if you have to recreate where the $ went.
Commingling accounts is a big NO for Social Security Adminstration too.
I do know my Bank Manager helped me a great deal when it came to Mom's finances & how to handle things
Wishing you the very Best !
Looking forward to seeing what others have to say.