Can I rent my grandmas house?

Dad should see an attorney and have this set up to make things go smoothly when Grandma passes.

The state is not interested in owning the house or in evicting people. They just want the money they are entitled to. Would you be able to buy the house (take out a mortgage?) in the future? This would probably not be at the point GM's money runs out ... but at her death. Medicaid recipients are allowed to own a home.

This really isn't a do-it-yourself project. See a lawyer, and cover all the bases.

I would suggest speaking with an elder care, estate-planning attorney. In the deep, deep recesses of my mind, I thought there was something about family living in the house and not having to pay rent, nor would grandma lose the home to cover NH costs. As I said, I have this vague memory of something along those lines when we were contemplating NH arrangements for my mother. We live in Michigan and some laws vary from state to state. An elder estate planner is well worth the dollars spent to cover grandma's, and your, assets. Keeping up with government laws and regulations is impossible. Although, growing increasingly difficult, there are a few ways remaining to hold onto some of what a lifetime has built, but a few months in a NH can wipe out.

Do make sure the home is in a relatives name to save court fees, etc. when grandma passes. They will need a quitclaim deed. And the insurance coverage is definitely something to handle now. There are just so many details and loose ends that need knotting today with people living well into dementia and NH care. So sad to see years of scrimping and saving in the hopes of passing a small inheritance on to family sucked away in a heartbeat by care facilities and the government. There are days I am not so sure all our modern medicine and technology is doing us any favors. At a certain point, just shoot me!!! Or be kind enough to let me go instead of living on to be a burden, financial drain and have everyone not wanting grandma around anymore.

Good luck in your beautiful, new home filled with so many wonderful memories. I am sure it gives grandma tremendous peace and joy knowing the home she knew and loved will be overflowing with life, laughter and happiness once again. Will she be able to come for a visit and enjoy seeing you living there? Many years of continued happiness and cherished memories.

NH run about 5K a month. So if your grandma has, in fact, the $ to pay for a couple of years in a NH then she has about $ 120,000.00 in assets plus her home.

Spend some of her 120K on a elder care attorney and estate planner.

Where does one find nursing care for only 5K a month? It's costing over 7.5K (and sometimes reaching 8K) per month for my mother in central Pennsylvania.

jacobson - yes your right in that NH can and do cost much more than 5K a month, especially if you are doing private pay. Most states Medicaid reimbursement is about $ 170 a day / about 5K mo so that's where my 5K comes from. Some states are even lower. My mom is in a NH in TX and TX Medicaid rate is about $ 148 a day. Then on top of that Medicaid only pays about 72% of the Medicare reimbursement rate for the same medical service - which is why so many MD's are no longer taking Medicaid patients.

What you see and feel in your pocketbook is very much the same issue in how the same medical procedure or hospital stay can vary in cost depending on what insurance you do or don't carry or what part of the country or even part of the state are in. So the cost for your mom as private payer is 7.5K while the cost for the lady who shares her room but is on Medicaid is significantly less. Personally, I just don't see how the system can continue to do this especially as the first wave baby boomers hit the NH in the next decade.

There was a good OP ed piece - "the Medicaid Albatross" in the Washington Post on this just yesterday.

ManyBlessings - you mentioned doing a quitclaim.

I know that doing Quit Claim Deeds seem like a simple & cheap way to change property ownership but there are issues with it especially as to guarantee. I've had to deal with QC deeded property (divorce & tax sale property) and QC can be sticky in that: you really have to have solid knowledge of the property history and the situation of the property owner as there could be liens or other clouds on the property. For property passed down generationally with no probate, there could be old heirs with judgements that affect ownership.

Remember a Quit Claim is not a Warranty Deed. A Warranty Deed establishes & guarantees that there is a clear and valid ownership on the property. With a QC property often if you should ever need to use it as collateral or get a mortgage on the property - say you want to build on it years from now and need a loan (mortgage) to do it - mortgage companies won't usually accept a QC as there is no assurance of good title. Also should you want to sell it later on and the buyer needs a mortgage to buy it, most banks will not loan on a QCD property as there is no warranty as to ownership. Some banks now are requiring that a QCD property to have a quiet title action run in order to do a mortgage. It may be that this will never be an issue for you and your property but it can be for others.

Personally if I had a QC property, I would go and get a real estate attorney to do a quiet title action on the property. Quiet should run about $1,500 for a non commercial property. Takes a bit of time because of the legal notifications needed and an attorney needs to do this. But well worth it as you don't want to find out years from now that in fact all the $$ spent on the property is in jeopardy as there wasn't a clean title to start with and in fact there are other owners with judgements on them which have or could affect the property. Just something to think about.

Does your dad have anything saying the house is his at grandmas death? Also, that has to be done in Tennessee five years before grandma goes into the nursing home. I would check with your state requirements a lawyer can help you. I have ownership of my parents house at their death but I can rent the house even before that happens. Make sure of all this before moving in because they can take the house if thing aren't in place.

You should discuss this with your grandmother since it's her house. Also, the insurance company will need to know this too since the home won't be occupied by the insured. I say this because I work for an insurance company. You will also want to look into getting your grandmother a renters policy while she's in the nursing home to make sure her personal property is covered while she's there. If your grandmother doesn't have any objections to you moving in, I'm sure she wouldn't throw you out if she has to move back in.

Igloo thank you for your knowledgable answer.

I'd just like to reiterate my simple answer: "This really isn't a do-it-yourself project. See a lawyer, and cover all the bases."

Igloo thank you for enlightening us. I just learned something even our attorney did not mention. Maybe he did the check and felt, in our situation, the Quit Claim was sufficient. Like I said, you need to meet with an estate-planning attorney to cover all your bases, and even then, there seems more to question. Gads! The world has become a very complicated place between the government and lawyers. They have made it so you don't dare make a move without consulting them. Guess it is job security in the highest form.

Oh, sorry about the spelling malfunction. I thought it looked wrong, but did look it up and the way I spelled quitclaim was valid. I do think Quit Claim is definitely the preferred of the two.

Good luck to everyone struggling with all these sticky messes our government and lawyers have made so complicated.