It's her home and if she owns it outright, then she can do whatever she wants to with the house. She can will it to her cats or give it to her nephew.
However if within the next 5 years she needs to apply for any program that has financial qualifications, she can be penalized for the full amount of the "gift" or transfer of assets done within the 5 years. This is called a "transfer penalty" and is based on the value of the property and whatever your state has as it's Medicaid room & board reimbursement rate to the NH. Mom will be enrolled in Medicaid but ineligible for Medicaid to pay for her care, till the transfer penalty is paid or lifted. Transfer penalties are super sticky to deal with and you don't want to do something quickly now that will make this happen later on. If you do this now, you basically have to keep mom at home for at least 5 full years before she can apply for Medicaid. that can be a very long 5 years…...
Medicaid requires a look-back of at least 5 years on their finances in the application. Real property sale or transfer is recorded by the local tax assessor and then dovetailed into the state system. At some point in time, this will surface for her Medicaid application or acceptance, and she will get a transfer penalty for the value of the property. This is a super sticky situation to be in. If they are in the Nh when this surfaces, it is a total panic situation for all. You want to do whatever to avoid that.
There is a caregiver exemption to the Medicaid applicants homesteaded property. Your brother can apply for that exemption & it is usually done at the time that the initial Medicaid application is done. You or him need to speak with Medicaid office to see exactly how your state handles those exemptions and then do whatever in the sequence that is required. He will have to be able to document that the caregiving he did was able to keep mom from going into the NH for at least 2 full years prior. It has to be full-time caregiving and often you will have to get documentation from her MD as to the need for this. If brother had a full-time job, this is going to be harder to prove he provided caregiving 24/7.
This is a lot to deal with and think about. It can be overwhelming is just dealing with caregiving. Really you are best off by taking the time and spending the money to speak with an elder law attorney to come up with a plan on how to deal with mom's assets & before she goes into a facility & also update all mom's legal. We just can't think of everything so it is good to get another viewpoint. Good luck
My brother has POA for my mother. I have been the primary caregiver for four years in my home. Mom has a home with some equity and all the siblings are in agreement to sell the mothers home, but no one is acting on it. I believe that my brother who has POA can assign it over to me and I can handle the sale of her home.
The original intent was for the trusted brother to handle the affairs with the home while I take care of our mom. It is difficult to comprehend how time consuming it is to take care of one who is in the advanced stages of dementia if he don't witness it himself. There is no good reason why. I will have to take charge myself and get the house on the market.
mappleby, that really doesn't make logical sense. If you are full time caregiver and it is so time consuming, then how is it you feel you have the time to devote to selling the house? Maybe brother has his reasons, have you asked him? Maybe he just doesn't agree to the urgent need, or maybe he has a different reason that you aren't aware of.
mappleby, what I meant was, maybe he's waiting for the real estate market to get better or something like that. Nothing else.
We held on to a family member's house for several years, she felt better knowing it was there even though we knew she wouldn't be moving back. And other family members stayed there when they were in town, so it was helpful in that way too.
Just ask brother about it. Knowing the answer is a lot better than just guessing why.
However if within the next 5 years she needs to apply for any program that has financial qualifications, she can be penalized for the full amount of the "gift" or transfer of assets done within the 5 years. This is called a "transfer penalty" and is based on the value of the property and whatever your state has as it's Medicaid room & board reimbursement rate to the NH. Mom will be enrolled in Medicaid but ineligible for Medicaid to pay for her care, till the transfer penalty is paid or lifted. Transfer penalties are super sticky to deal with and you don't want to do something quickly now that will make this happen later on. If you do this now, you basically have to keep mom at home for at least 5 full years before she can apply for Medicaid. that can be a very long 5 years…...
Medicaid requires a look-back of at least 5 years on their finances in the application. Real property sale or transfer is recorded by the local tax assessor and then dovetailed into the state system. At some point in time, this will surface for her Medicaid application or acceptance, and she will get a transfer penalty for the value of the property. This is a super sticky situation to be in. If they are in the Nh when this surfaces, it is a total panic situation for all. You want to do whatever to avoid that.
There is a caregiver exemption to the Medicaid applicants homesteaded property. Your brother can apply for that exemption & it is usually done at the time that the initial Medicaid application is done. You or him need to speak with Medicaid office to see exactly how your state handles those exemptions and then do whatever in the sequence that is required. He will have to be able to document that the caregiving he did was able to keep mom from going into the NH for at least 2 full years prior. It has to be full-time caregiving and often you will have to get documentation from her MD as to the need for this. If brother had a full-time job, this is going to be harder to prove he provided caregiving 24/7.
This is a lot to deal with and think about. It can be overwhelming is just dealing with caregiving. Really you are best off by taking the time and spending the money to speak with an elder law attorney to come up with a plan on how to deal with mom's assets & before she goes into a facility & also update all mom's legal. We just can't think of everything so it is good to get another viewpoint. Good luck
It is difficult to comprehend how time consuming it is to take care of one who is in the advanced stages of dementia if he don't witness it himself.
There is no good reason why. I will have to take charge myself and get the house on the market.
We held on to a family member's house for several years, she felt better knowing it was there even though we knew she wouldn't be moving back. And other family members stayed there when they were in town, so it was helpful in that way too.
Just ask brother about it. Knowing the answer is a lot better than just guessing why.