Mother in-law's house. Any advice?

Additional Problem is that home basis is now $1 and they will have a huge capital gains tax bill on profit and may owe property taxes if home change was not recorded properly.

You need an elder law attorney who works closely with or is also a tax expert.

You have two possible problems here, Medicaid look back and/or capital gains taxes.

As stated already, if the transfer was done more than five years ago, it won’t be an issue on the lookback. This seems likely to be the case here since the lawyer said not to transfer it back. Some states use a shorter lookback for real estate.

The strategy when the transfer was done was to get through the lookback and count on Medicaid if she needs LTC after that. Most assisted living isn’t covered by Medicaid so a move to a Medicaid facility would be needed, likely a shared room in a skilled nursing facility.

Capital gains taxes, mostly 15%, are due when you make a profit on selling a home or other asset. Basically selling price minus expenses minus “basis” equals profit.

You have three likely areas of concern here, depreciation recapture, the step up in basis, and the capital gains tax exclusion.

If you haven’t rented out the home, depreciation recapture isn’t a problem.

If you inherit a home, you get a step up in basis to its current value, so if you sell it right away there is no capital gains tax. You got the house from Mom while she is alive, so no step up in basis for you. Your likely basis was basically Mom’s basis (purchase price plus improvements) plus any improvements you have done.

If you have owned a house for at least five years, and lived in it for at least two, you can keep up to $250,000 in profit without federal tax. If Mom had sold it, she might have done this; she didn’t. Renting it complicates things.

Additional capital gains taxes may be due to your state.


Note, If she is near the end, her medical POA needs to review her preferences and prepare to act accordingly. Assume you are all doing your best and be kind to each other.

You want a certified NELF attorney:

Www.nelf.org

dtst4t, unfortunately, it seems that legal advice wasn't sought before selling the house, and as already mentioned, cap gains taxes are going to be a factor.

I think the best thing you can do is summarize the transactions, step-up values, and get legal counsel. The situation that's been created is not something that should be dealt with on a forum. There are two many complications already.

some more info...his siblings are convinced she is going to die in a few months, which is pretty amazing to me. I don't know how they know that. My husband the POA is panicking because he is well aware she can live longer than the money we will get for the house. We offered to take over the house and move her in with us to dwindle down her estate and pay me for her care. At the end if there was anything left he would share with them. But that is a big no as well. Literally did not sleep last night thinking about this.
thank you so much for all your replies so far, really appreciate it.

dtst4t, that ship has sailed where Mom-in-law would be able to understand and sign paperwork regarding changing home ownership back to herself. So wipe that idea off the board.

When did Mom-in-law sell her house? If it was over 5 years ago, then the house wouldn't even be on Medicaid's radar.

Sounds like the siblings would need to sell the house to help pay for Mom's care, and bite the bullet regarding Capital Gains Tax. Are any of the siblings living the house? Was it a rental? If none of the siblings were living in the house, then the house would be classified as an "investment property", thus Capital Gain Taxes would be even higher.

Check with an Elder Law Attorney in Mom's State as State laws can vary from State to State.

LSS what LTC Medicaid will do should MIL apply is place a transfer penalty on Mil that is the last tax assessor value on the home she sold for $1.00.

Keep in mind Mil will be actually residing in a facility at the time of the filing of the LTC application. So every day she is adding to a bill.

so if house has $345,678 value and your state Medicaid pays a facility $180 a day room&board reimbursement…… that’s 1,920 days of ineligibility. Basically 5 years and 3 months of ineligibility on Mil who (again I mention this) is in a NH. If she’s there 4 months before LTC Medicaid gives the determination she will have a 4 month private pay rate bill for those months. $$$$

NH will seek repayment from whomever in the family they can and nH has attorney’s who do nothing but this and will attach & enjoin all of y’all in repayment. POA has a fiduciary duty to have sought FMV on house sale. All have to some degree to have taken advantage of a vulnerable adult & that has legal ramifications. All this nonsense worry on capital gains will be but a blimp compared to the fallout a NH set in motion on family who will not pay a existing bill. The NH will contact APS; which in turn will seek an emergency ward of the state placement; judge will appoint one from a State list of vetted guardians; and that guardian will go after any family involved in the financial shenanigans. If any of y’all are military or teachers or other banking or licensed professionals, having APS do an investigation on your taking advantage of a vulnerable adult, usually means you get suspended from job or worse. If your military, this goes very bad very fast.

If hubs is the POA for his mom, he is #1 on the list on all this.

So what room will you be clearing out to have your MIL move into?

I KNOW you are going to get a much better answer than this but... gut reaction here.
If the house was recently "purchased" for $1.00 (with no other zeros and no commas in the number) it should have been "purchased" for FAIR MARKET VALUE. My thought is that all the siblings would have to pay into moms account the actual fair market value of the house/property.
I would follow the advice of an attorney over a group of siblings that think they know better

Time to consult an elder care/medicaid planning attorney. Buying the home for $1 was a huge mistake that will likely have tax consequences. Talk to an attorney about the best way to undo this, it should have been done prior to siblings “purchasing” the home for below market value.

The siblings are IDIOTS.

They got a step-up basis when the house was sold to them, yes?

Did y'all consult an eldercare attorney BEFORE mom sold the house?

Have all the siblings listen to the eldercare attorney to work out the best solution.

Medicaid won't lien your home, but they will refuse to pay for care. So either the siblings all pay, or she goes into one of your homes to be cared for around the clock.

Is everyone prepared to do incontinence care several times a day?