Normally owning a property in another state creates a nonexempt asset situation for the Medicaid application. You can have a home as an exempt asset & be ok for Medicaid but it needs to be your homestead located in the state you are a resident of. The WI property cannot be her homestead as she lives in MI & applying for MI Medicaid. Old Wisconsin is a nonexempt asset. Non exempt assets for individual LTC Medicaid is a max of 2k for most states but NY (and CA?).
when she eventually does her LTC Medicaid application that out of state property in WI will need to be disclosed. There’s probably a line in the application that all items must be disclosed or it’s fraudulent and application requires signature. Imho you don’t want to leave it out as stuff eventually surfaces.
Now there have been folks on this site who have had this out of state home situation. Mom moves to be closer to one of the kids in another state but didn’t get around to selling the home. It gets disclosed on application & What seems to happen is that as it’s a nonexempt asset they have to have it placed in the market and listed MLS with a Realtor. No FSBO nonsense. And when it sells, the elder does a spend down or does a reinbursement to Medicaid/ spend down combo. And there’s some sort of reporting to Medicaid on property status periodically. Medicaid is fully aware from the start that it exists in a other state. By applying for Medicaid she pledges to do whatever to sell the non exempt asset property in the other state. Keep in mind as mom is the owner when it sells all the $ from the Act of Sale is all hers. So any $ you or other family spend to get Wisconsin market ready cannot be easily reimbursed. It’s something to mull over and make decisions on imo before she applies for Medicaid.
Your moms not on Medicaid yet, right? So right now she still can spend her $ to pay for her NH, her old bills, her credit cards, that house in WI. But once she applies for Medicaid from day 1 of the application she is required to do a copay of basically almost all her income (like her SS $) to her NH. All she will have is a smallish PNA/ personal needs allowance that tend to be $50-$60 mo. That PNA is it for $ & it usually gets fully spent on beauty shoppe and toiletries. So property in WI either you or other family will need to pay all its costs or it defaults on stuff. So if property taxes not paid, it can go up for tax sale. Again when it sells, the $ is all hers.
Elders want to keep thier old home. Medicaid rules make it hard to do. what seems to happen is that within 6-8 months of elders going on Medicaid and $ going as copay to the NH, that family loose any interest in doing or paying thier share on moms old house. It then falls to the Dpoa to deal & pay all. It might make sense if it’s an in the state homestead so no nonexempt asset issues and the heir(s) possibly have exemptions to Medicaid estate recovery. But out of state house, doesn’t have that. Personally I’d try to sell it before she ever even looks at a Medicaid application so she has house sale money and can private pay for care and have more options as to where she lives for care.
I am not an expert but believe as it is an asset it would have had to have been declared during the application process, so Medicaid knows about it and will expect the asset to be sold with proceeds going toward any costs she accrued. My suggestion would be to consult asap with a certified elder law attorney to have them advise you on this.
To the original poster--It's not safe to post personal information on any discussion groups, and you have both your name and your email address. Maybe you could contact a site administrator so you can edit your posting.
As to your question, Medicaid does not "take" anyone's home. If the home in Michigan is where she lived, and is her only property, Medicaid allows the person to keep the home while they are alive. The state's Medicaid program might have a lien on the home and it would be sold after the person passes away, to pay back the cost of their care. However, since almost all your mom's income would be going to pay for her NH care, there would not be money left over to pay taxes, insurance, upkeep, etc. If the home in Wisconsin is not the home where she lived but a vacation place, rental property, etc., it would be considered a current asset of your mom's and it would have to be sold to pay for her care (as part of the spend down process) before Medicaid will be granted.
You really need to contact an elder law attorney for her state of residency since laws can differ from state to state. Plus, there may be other variables in her case, like if another person's name is on the title, etc. Please do not "bank" on crowdsourced advice from people who are not attorneys.
You can have a home as an exempt asset & be ok for Medicaid but it needs to be your homestead located in the state you are a resident of. The WI property cannot be her homestead as she lives in MI & applying for MI Medicaid. Old Wisconsin is a nonexempt asset. Non exempt assets for individual LTC Medicaid is a max of 2k for most states but NY (and CA?).
when she eventually does her LTC Medicaid application that out of state property in WI will need to be disclosed. There’s probably a line in the application that all items must be disclosed or it’s fraudulent and application requires signature. Imho you don’t want to leave it out as stuff eventually surfaces.
Now there have been folks on this site who have had this out of state home situation. Mom moves to be closer to one of the kids in another state but didn’t get around to selling the home. It gets disclosed on application & What seems to happen is that as it’s a nonexempt asset they have to have it placed in the market and listed MLS with a Realtor. No FSBO nonsense. And when it sells, the elder does a spend down or does a reinbursement to Medicaid/ spend down combo. And there’s some sort of reporting to Medicaid on property status periodically. Medicaid is fully aware from the start that it exists in a other state. By applying for Medicaid she pledges to do whatever to sell the non exempt asset property in the other state.
Keep in mind as mom is the owner when it sells all the $ from the Act of Sale is all hers. So any $ you or other family spend to get Wisconsin market ready cannot be easily reimbursed. It’s something to mull over and make decisions on imo before she applies for Medicaid.
Your moms not on Medicaid yet, right?
So right now she still can spend her $ to pay for her NH, her old bills, her credit cards, that house in WI. But once she applies for Medicaid from day 1 of the application she is required to do a copay of basically almost all her income (like her SS $) to her NH. All she will have is a smallish PNA/ personal needs allowance that tend to be $50-$60 mo. That PNA is it for $ & it usually gets fully spent on beauty shoppe and toiletries. So property in WI either you or other family will need to pay all its costs or it defaults on stuff. So if property taxes not paid, it can go up for tax sale. Again when it sells, the $ is all hers.
Elders want to keep thier old home.
Medicaid rules make it hard to do.
what seems to happen is that within 6-8 months of elders going on Medicaid and $ going as copay to the NH, that family loose any interest in doing or paying thier share on moms old house. It then falls to the Dpoa to deal & pay all. It might make sense if it’s an in the state homestead so no nonexempt asset issues and the heir(s) possibly have exemptions to Medicaid estate recovery. But out of state house, doesn’t have that. Personally I’d try to sell it before she ever even looks at a Medicaid application so she has house sale money and can private pay for care and have more options as to where she lives for care.
As to your question, Medicaid does not "take" anyone's home. If the home in Michigan is where she lived, and is her only property, Medicaid allows the person to keep the home while they are alive. The state's Medicaid program might have a lien on the home and it would be sold after the person passes away, to pay back the cost of their care. However, since almost all your mom's income would be going to pay for her NH care, there would not be money left over to pay taxes, insurance, upkeep, etc. If the home in Wisconsin is not the home where she lived but a vacation place, rental property, etc., it would be considered a current asset of your mom's and it would have to be sold to pay for her care (as part of the spend down process) before Medicaid will be granted.