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Spouse is rated from the VA as having disabilities, and the various statutes I have seen, if the parent's home was deeded to him and his wife almost 3 years ago, supposedly this does not matter, due to childs disability. OR if someone knows of a very experienced attorney in PA for such matters.

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Is a parent on or going on Medicaid?

Does son live in the house as his primary residence?

Do parents live in house as primary residence? If not, where are they living?

Just an overview here. If one or more of the parents need Medicaid at this time, deeding the house within the five year look back may be a problem. It may have to revert back to the parents.

If a disabled child is living with the parents when they need Medicaid for LTC, he will be able to remain in the house but will be responsible for taxes, utilities and upkeep. When a parent passes, a lean will be put on the house but not recouped until the disabled child passes or sells the house.
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auntsally Aug 2019
Hello,
The Veteran (VA rated disabled) was living intermittently between helping his mom, living with her intermittently, had home care in her house for her, and is married. Did his best to keep her in her home as long as possible, until had to go in hospital because of I will say bad "upkeep' of her in a skilled facility from previous incident, and has been in care from skilled to possible LTC now.
Local atty said the deed transfer was done "too long" ago to reverse it? The house is in her Life Estate, and we and her intention is to get back in her house again. She has been paying all expenses through today, as required by the Life Estate.
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If the property is in a Life Estate, it isn’t actually owned by your hubs, her son. LE as I understand them, are set up to be that the elder continues to own the property (& be able to get whatever over 65, homestead exemption, perks, etc.) and it is ONLY when the elder dies that it actually become via the wording in the LE to be deeded to whomever is named as the beneficiary or remainderman to the LE.

Look at the tax assessor bill, it probably reads in her name or her name with an LE after it. It’s still owned by her. The property costs are her debt as those - utilities, insurances, taxes, etc - still in her name, I’d bet.

LE seem to be done as they are viewed as a way to bypass probate & not for a way around Medicaid asset requirements.
But if Medicaid gets applied for, then LE are sticky to deal with. As in theory IF an asset is not included as an asset for probate, it’s not subject to Medicaid Estate Recovery, so she can continue to own it. But a lot of states have started not viewing LE as a non recoverable asset and it’s up for an MERP attempt after death. That is something to see if your state uses as their rule and if so then disabled heir exemption can come into play to get around MERP, so he would need to find out what documentation needed to show disabled heir.
OR
if LTC NH Medicaid for your state requires the LE to be valued out (that is to determine remainderman interest) and with whatever her value is at the time of the Medicaid application to be considered a required spend down amount that she will need to self-pay before Medicaid eligible. Determining LE remainderman value is a math problem. IRS has tables on it. But to me, it has to be done by someone who truly understands the math equation. Like a NAELA or CELA level of elder law attorney & maybe they work with a tax law attorney on it (it is ultimately a tax issue) as it’s not simple.



If the attorney you you spoke with isn’t CELA or a tax attorney, they probably aren’t experienced with how to deal with remainderman internet. The “it’s too late” line, imho, isn’t valid. Remainderman can be figured out whether their 80 or 100 but is specialized work.

Also I’d like to RE-emphasize what JoAnn wrote about property costs. Yeah MIL is now paying those costs. BUT once she applies for Medicaid, basically all her monthly income must be paid to the NH. She will have no- none - nada -zero of her $ to pay anything house anymore. She can keep the property but you all will have to pay all while in she’s in the nursing home and then after death till property transfer gets settled and whatever happens with MERP is resolved. Please, please Look at her bills and see if this is feasible. To me, it’s like having a second home but without true ownership so runs risk that things may not turn out as you’ve hope. Her homeowners policy will stop once she moves into the NH likely and it will need a vacant dwelling policy. Which are pricey and limited. Plus taxes, utilities, maintenance. If there’s a mortgage (horrors) or other lending on it, those must be paid by you all as well. Honoring your folks wishes to keep the old home may be feasible if you are the sole heir or have totally cooperative heirs & have the wallet & a pretty good sense of humor for possible years.
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auntsally Dec 2019
Hello, sorry for replying so late. You have lots of detailed information, but good info, somethings I never read about. Can you tell me what these acronyms spell out that you used? MERP, NAELA, CELA? But doesn't a LE show intent to move back home? Are you able to provide me with a reference to the info you provided where I may do some more reading?
thanks
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AuntSally, your Oct post on your other thread has it that your hubs has hired a Medicaid lawyer. If so they should be able to explain what LE (life estate) is, what MERP (medicaid estate recovery) is & what NAELA/ CELA means for the different certifications are for attorneys.
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