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Mom in sub-acute, headed for long term care soon.  Daughter in home - Mortgage questions/Medicaid spend down.


Mom owns her home with her daughter. Had been paying mortgage. Now headed from sub-acute to nursing home wing. Can she pay May, June, July mortgage now without a problem from Medicaid? (My thinking is that if she will never go home, they won't like her paying mortgage while in long term nursing home.)

I know she can pay $ on the mortgage itself, but her daughter cannot afford the home after mom's $ is gone and will be going into foreclosure. They are very upside down with house value vs. $ owed on mortgage now.

Talked to eldercare attorney, but very evasive about this.

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Be careful that paying a mortgage payment in full for a property that Mom will not be living in for the next three months is not viewed as a "gift" to daughter and thereby penalized under Medicaid rules. This sounds like a better discussion would with a bankruptcy attorney to see if this is time for a restructure of mortgage or default options. Paying for an extra 3 months on home that will be foreclosed might not be the best use of the money. Finding a new place, storage for items in home, and restructuring debt might be better options and use the money for mortgage payment to get wheelchair, dental work, eyeglasses, etc.
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A mortgage on the primary residence would be excluded from the Medicaid lookback. You can pay the mortgage now, before applying for Medicaid without a problem.

However, if she has money to pay the mortgage, she likely won't be approved for medicaid as she will need to go through the spend down process (if she is single, then she spends down to $3000 cash...amount differs by state) but the mortgage payments are fine to do as part of the spend down.

Once your mom goes on Medicaid her entire income (usually social security) will be taken for payment of her care, with the exception of a small stipend for personal items each month. She will not be able to pay on the mortgage once she is on Medicaid. If you want to keep the house, and mom's income won't be available...is this really a good plan? It would be better to sell the house and have the assets available for mom's care, rather than losing the house completely to foreclosure.

Angel
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Since the house is "under water" now with no equity, selling it would not get mom any money.

Wondering if we can pay the May, June and July payments now rather than paying money against the loan balance. This would delay my sister having to pay mortgage for a few months.

Thanks
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Then my first paragraph stands as the answer. Yes you can make these payments and the money will not be a problem for the Medicaid application.

Angel
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dtrinfl2, regarding the house and mortgage payments.... once Mom's money runs out, would the daughter be comfortable bringing in room-mates? With the rent received from a couple of room-mates that may help pay the mortgage, plus daughter could go back to work.... but then there would be utilities, property taxes, maintenance on the house. If the room-mates rent can help, maybe over time the real estate market in that area will be worth more. Just an idea.

Usually when a parent becomes elderly, the mortgages are paid off... unless the house was refinanced to get equity out of the house.
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