Congratulations on selling the house! Bet that was an ordeal…. So How has your mother been paying for her stay so far in the NH?
This can matter. Why? Well if mom was on LTC Medicaid and Medicaid was paying her room&board, then - Medicaid needs to be made aware in writing of the sale of the home. You as mom POA should do this and send it certified mail. & - there exists a tally of those costs paid by Medicaid. Depending on your state, Medicaid may want all those costs paid to date reimbursed to the State. It seems to be done if your State runs on zero balancing for State budget. For more fun in this, could take a few months for the matchup to happen. States LTC Medicaid to NH tend to pay abt $185 day rate for R&B, so 3 mos/90 days is roughly 17K. State could send out a letter 4 months from now asking for the $$$ & due within 30 days. You don’t want to be caught off guard should this happen.
I have a ? for you, you mentioned taking care of mom and also her sister, your Auntie. If anything is at all intertwined in banking or personal property or signatory with the sisters & you, I’d suggest that you have an attorney do fresh legal paperwork for them & you. As your mom is involved in all this, she can use her $ from house sake to pay for attorney for the updated legal work. It is a legit spend down of her money, should Medicaid be a part of her finances.
See a certified elder attorney to be on the safe side as to how you spend her money. You can’t pay yourself if the POA your mom gave doesn’t allow. You do not want to spend her money inappropriately and disqualify her from Medicaid should she need it. At 85 she could outlive her savings and need help. As has been explained, if she is already on Medicaid that will stop until the money from the home sale is spent on her care. The attorney fee can be paid from her money. Each states laws are a little different re Medicaid. You need to understand your states laws.
The answers to this question are variable and depend on how her assets are set up.
I'm DPOA for Mom and was Executrix for Dad's Will. Once I dug into all of their assets, I found that Mom was beneficiary on everything and all assets were held in joint-title/ tenancy. I was able to avoid the costs of probate on dad's estate as it all passed to Mom.
I sold 2 properties and after a home equity loan pay off, all proceeds simply went into her account (I'm co-signatory) and is used to pay for her care and quality of life. I do allow myself some reasonable compensation for my time, but it's a pittance when looking at how all-consuming it's been. I love my parents dearly and owe them more than I can ever repay, but estate mgt is a lot of work.
Please consider setting up a reasonable payment for yourself. The professionals charge $40-75/ hr for non-professional services, 2-5% of gross property sale amounts and usually a percentage of all assets managed. It helps a bit and I decided that $30./ hr for my time is reasonable under the laws of the state.
Most states have court self-help sites for information on asset mgt and if you have questions, use mom's assets to pay for an attorney to guide you.
Rose61mary, even though someone may be living in a nursing home, that money from the sale of the house belongs to your Mom. It goes into her checking and/or saving account where the Power of Attorney can draw out for Mom's care. I just assume Mom has a Power of Attorney as someone had to represent your Mom in the home sale and closing.
If Mom is self-pay, thus paying out of her own pocket to be in the nursing home, said monies will be used to pay the nursing home and anything she might need.
If Mom is being helped by Medicaid [which is different than Medicare], then Medicaid will stop until the monies from the sale of Mom's house are used up. Once the monies are used, then Medicaid will kick back in.
The money needs to be spent for your Mom’s benefit in what is known as Medicaid spend down.
Most of it will likely go towards the nursing home, but it may also be spent on stuff like a prepaid funeral (within limits), eyeglasses, dentures, hearing aids, lift chair, wheelchair, clothes, food, etc.
This can matter. Why? Well if mom was on LTC Medicaid and Medicaid was paying her room&board, then
- Medicaid needs to be made aware in writing of the sale of the home. You as mom POA should do this and send it certified mail.
&
- there exists a tally of those costs paid by Medicaid. Depending on your state, Medicaid may want all those costs paid to date reimbursed to the State. It seems to be done if your State runs on zero balancing for State budget. For more fun in this, could take a few months for the matchup to happen. States LTC Medicaid to NH tend to pay abt $185 day rate for R&B, so 3 mos/90 days is roughly 17K. State could send out a letter 4 months from now asking for the $$$ & due within 30 days. You don’t want to be caught off guard should this happen.
I have a ? for you, you mentioned taking care of mom and also her sister, your Auntie. If anything is at all intertwined in banking or personal property or signatory with the sisters & you, I’d suggest that you have an attorney do fresh legal paperwork for them & you. As your mom is involved in all this, she can use her $ from house sake to pay for attorney for the updated legal work. It is a legit spend down of her money, should Medicaid be a part of her finances.
It has been awhile Pamstegma!
Good to see you here!
The answers to this question are variable and depend on how her assets are set up.
I'm DPOA for Mom and was Executrix for Dad's Will. Once I dug into all of their assets, I found that Mom was beneficiary on everything and all assets were held in joint-title/ tenancy. I was able to avoid the costs of probate on dad's estate as it all passed to Mom.
I sold 2 properties and after a home equity loan pay off, all proceeds simply went into her account (I'm co-signatory) and is used to pay for her care and quality of life. I do allow myself some reasonable compensation for my time, but it's a pittance when looking at how all-consuming it's been. I love my parents dearly and owe them more than I can ever repay, but estate mgt is a lot of work.
Please consider setting up a reasonable payment for yourself. The professionals charge $40-75/ hr for non-professional services, 2-5% of gross property sale amounts and usually a percentage of all assets managed. It helps a bit and I decided that $30./ hr for my time is reasonable under the laws of the state.
Most states have court self-help sites for information on asset mgt and if you have questions, use mom's assets to pay for an attorney to guide you.
If Mom is self-pay, thus paying out of her own pocket to be in the nursing home, said monies will be used to pay the nursing home and anything she might need.
If Mom is being helped by Medicaid [which is different than Medicare], then Medicaid will stop until the monies from the sale of Mom's house are used up. Once the monies are used, then Medicaid will kick back in.
Most of it will likely go towards the nursing home, but it may also be spent on stuff like a prepaid funeral (within limits), eyeglasses, dentures, hearing aids, lift chair, wheelchair, clothes, food, etc.