My mom is 98 years old with Alzheimer's and is with a full-time aide. Her bank accounts are running out of money soon to support her. The house is in her name, so we are afraid if we put her in a nursing home they will take her house. What do my siblings and I do?
I would not wait till the money runs out to get Mom into LTC. Its easier to get them in a facility if they are private pay then apply for Medicaid 2 or 3 months before money runs out. With my Mom she had 20k. She went into LTC and paid May and June privately. I started her Medicaid application in April. Those two months of private pay gave me time to spend down the 20k and get Medicaid info needed. June, I confirmed Mom was spent down and all info needed was given. Her Medicaid started July 1st.
A member a while back said in her State, if the person needing care was the surviving spouse remaining in the home, the home had to be sold for their care. Which really makes sense. What did my Widowed Mom need a house for when she was in care. Since her pendion and SS were needed to offset the cost of her care, I stopped paying taxes and everything else came out of my pocket until the house sold and I wasable to get my money back.
I would make an appt with your County Social Services office with a Medicaid caseworker. Each State has different criteria. There is an asset cap, my State 2k. There is an monthly income cap, my State 2900. They can answer your questions about the house.
How do you feel about the situation after reading them?
Medicaid doesn't take houses, but it won't even be a possibility for your mother until all of assets in her name (real estate, bank accounts, insurance policies, etc...) are spend down paying for her care. Then Medicaid will pay her care bill in a nursing home that her monthly income doesn't cover. They're not going to pay for it now though.
There's really not a lot of choices here. If you place your mother, the nursing home will be paid in cash until her assets are gone because they are not protected assets. So really, your choices are liquidate her assets and put her in a nursing home and cash pay until they run out. Or borrow on her assets to continue paying for 24-hour homecare.
Your best bet would be to consult with an elder law attorney who also specializes in estate planning. They can best advise you.
Why would you not want to sell the house and have the assets go to providing the best care that she can get?
The "nursing home" will not "take her house" they are not in the business of selling property, they are not land barons. What would happen if anything is that a lien would be put on the house and when it is sold or title is transferred that lien would have to be paid. They rightfully expect to be paid what they are owed for the services they rendered (caring for mom)
And if you think that applying for Medicaid and letting tax payers pay for her care there is a look back period. and even if she qualified most facilities want a resident to be private pay for at least 2 years some more before Medicaid. Not to be pessimistic but is mom going to live another 2 to 5 years?
Otherwise, you sell the house and transition her into a good care facility, paying for it with the sales proceeds.
Medicaid will allow an existing spouse to remain in a marital home if the other gets placed in a LTC facility. If the spouse at home is dependent on the other's income, Social Security and Medicaid are pretty reasonable about that too. No one inherits a house when the owner is in LTC. Not unless they have a very good LTC insurance policy, they are extremely wealthy and can pay for their own LTC in cash, or they've made the place a protected asset.
The bill gets paid at some point. Like when the spouse at home passes away or has to go into care themselves. The bill gets paid by the assets at some point unless they have legally been made exempt assets.