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Mom is is Idaho and we are in Utah. Mom can't drive her car anymore. The BlueBook is about $5000 on it. She can't sell it and keep her Medicaid - at least not without complications. She can't give it to us. Medicaid law, as I understand it, says personal property can be rented. So could we rent Mom's car from her and register it in Utah?

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The car is viewed as an exempt asset for State of Idaho medicaid. It's registered in her name in ID & as she is a resident of ID all is fine. If she were to transfer her ownership of it to Utah, it would become a nonexempt asset make her ineligible as that 5k value would take her beyond the 2k nonexemot asset limit allowed by Medicaid.... & vehicle registration is all dovetailed into both states records & will pop up eventually. So thats not a good idea, compende?

So what to do? Blue book value us based on "average", moms car could be worth less than 5k. The car could be appraised in value. A used car lot dealer could do this; if its had a lot of repairs done, high mileage or been in an accident, you could provide those details with documentation to dealer so that a more specific to the condition of moms car value determined. Value could be less than 5k and you get this in writing as establishes its market value specific to this car. It's kinda like getting valuation for probate, in that the executrix could just accept tax assessor valuation on a house or car but what is better is to have property or car inspected & then appraised to get value specific to condition of the asset done instead to enter into probate for a more accurate valuation at time of death. So let's say you do this and car comes in at $ 3,800 in writing.

Then to me theres 2 options:
mom sells the car to whomever for entire $ 3800 at the beginning of the month and mom spends all $$ entirely within this month on a pre-need no cash value funeral policy of $3800 so she ends the month totally poor again; all $ spent within the month. Funeral & burial are easy to do & FH can do all within days. Simple & done!
OR whomever in the family can buy the car under a legal contact over time from mom with the payments with interest based so that the amount paid each month keeps mom under Medicaid asset & income limits. This is lots more cumbersome. & whatever the case you MUST run this proposal by moms caseworker for their OK.

So for the latter approach let's say appraisal comes in at $ 3,800. Mom has in her savings 1k, so mom still has the ability to have another 1k as assets & be ok for medicaid. Mom gets $ 800 a mo SS and another $ 500 a mo from retirement. So mom has $ 1300 a mo income. Moms state has medicaid maximum monthly income as $2100. So mom could in theory make another $799 a mo and still be within Medicaid monthly income limits. Granddaughter buys moms car for $3800 done via a contract drawns up, signed and notarized in ID where mom lives in her NH with $ 800 as the downpayment (which goes into moms asset kitty held in moms checking account) for month 1 and then pays mom each month after $ 250 till car is bought in full. That $ 250 plus interest mom must pay to the NH as part of her required monthly income copay under Medicaid rules. Grandaughter does this for 12 mos and then owns car outright & all within Medicaid limits & compliance. Caseworker may not approve this as no guarantee for kid to follow through. And all will need to be detailed & documented in any annual Medicaid renewal done by the DPOA.
Either way there's a solution. Good luck!
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Buy it from her and pay her in small enough amounts to keep her on Medicaid. Use a written contract for the loan. For example, $200 a month for 25 months. You will need the title to register the vehicle in Utah, and you list her as a lienholder.
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Thank you! I appreciate the time you took to answer. I sent an email to the department of health and welfare in Idaho inquiring about buying Mom's car on contract.
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Entrpra - favor to ask of you, when you do get a clear answer (lol) from Idaho Medicaid, could you post what's what. We all learn from each other. Thanks & good luck!
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Will do. No luck so far. They have asked for Mom's info but haven't gotten back to me since I replied.
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Okay here are some answers. After becoming an authorized representative for mom with DHW, they said yes we could buy the car on payments. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) my late brother arranged Mom's income so she would get exactly her allowed limit and still retain her benefits. So there is no room for us to make a payment to her. Not even $1. So now I am looking into an irrevocable trust to make the payments to. DHW didn't know how this would affect her benefits and recommended seeking legal advice. Which I am doing.
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