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Mom already on medicaid, went to skilled nursing facility. Dad died. Received "agreement to sell real property..." letter from medicaid. Cash offer came in on home. How low of an offer may we accept?

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The house is in Connecticut. I was to pay all expenses: food, heat, light, water, taxes, everything but her housekeeper, haircuts and telephone. Dad left her an annuity that was left originally to him and five cousins (me and my 3 siblings) that he then left to his wife and her son put it in his own name for $348K plus another $200K that she had in her own assets. Now I am being sued for bad management of the estate when I have taken nothing from the estate that was not supposed to be paid out. Her son and POA is going after the house as an asset to pay her Medicaid for her nursing care after placing her in a NH and not notifying me for 3 weeks that she was gone and the house was empty. As ordered by the court, I am selling the house. The house was to be sold after Mom's death and the proceeds from the estate divided between me and my three sibs. He is arguing I have a conflict of interest but I have a fiduciary responsibility to everyone. This is a second marriage.
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FedUp - if the house was in a life estate that was properly done, then the property would probably not go through probate so there would be no way for Medicaid via the MERP program to get the proceeds from the sale of the house. MERP is done though probate court.

It appears stepmom had a USUFRUCT rather than being a direct beneficiary of the estate via the will - is this the case? Per chance are you all in Louisiana? - usufruct gets used here quite often especially when there is a 2nd or 3rd wife and a$$ets. It is a way for dad to say with a straight face, "Yes, Sonny, I am leaving everything to you & your siblings from marriage #1 (eventually....)". We have several friends who they or their parents have done this route with property. I can't tell you the # of ones who have had problems with the usufruct when the property is one that is out of state. Not all probate judges fully understand the concept of usufruct and will often do an overreach in property dissolution. Your attorney should be really out there to show that it's ONLY A SIMPLE USUFRUCT AND NOT A DIRECT BENEFIT. Not all probate judges are imho competent when it comes to something with nuances - which is what usufruct is about. I've been executrix twice and had to deal with probate issues in more than 1 court as we had foreign asset issues where assets were in that county via a usufruct and needed to be transferred to the principal homestead county and some judges just couldn't get the concept. If your attorney isn't being proactive on all this, then look about for another before the next hearing date.

About the 500 large, private pay @ NH is very expensive. Could easily be 5K to 15K a month just for the room & board aspect of care. 3 years @ the average cost of a NH could be 360K for room & board alone. If she was at a top tier private pay NH, 500K in 5 years gone. Maybe they have been skimming $$ but maybe not.

Whatever the case, you need experienced legal with this court to represent you.
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Thank you CareMgr111 My father died before he needed Medicare services. He left monies from his estate to my stepmother to be used for her care and stated in his will that she be allowed to live in the marital home as long as she wanted or it was to be sold if she wanted to move to a condo. He kept his own name on the deed. Her POAs, her son and his wife, are suing me to be removed as executrix of the estate in trust for stepmother because I wouldn't sell the house to pay for her nursing care. Without notifying me, her son placed her in a nursing care facility and then took me to Probate Court to have me removed as executrix. It is a lifetime use not for Medicaid purposes. He waited until a month after the 5 year lookback period by Medicaid to bring this action against me. I think he has been toiling for fraud (i.e. using her assets as his own to weaken my stepmother's asset pool) but right now the court determined that the house is to be sold and then the issue of removing me or giving the assets to my stepbrother for his mother's nursing care will be resolved. I have done nothing wrong. He has used her assets to pay for vacation plane tickets and his daughter's wedding etc. However, all my stepmother had to pay was her nursing care (as determined by a previous Probate court hearing) and her haircuts, cable tv and phone. It is impossible to have gone through $500K on those expenditures over the past five years. How do you see this being settled? Thank you.
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As long as the home is sold to a legitimate third-party buyer (i.e., not a relative or friend of the seller), the sale will be deemed fair and acceptable to the Medicaid authorities.
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I am being sued by my stepbrother who wants to use my father's last asset, his house, that was/is in his name only. As executrix of the life estate, do I have to sell the house to repay Medicaid. He also removed my stepmother from the home without notifying me and wants to use the sale of the house to pay for the nursing care when that was not my father's intent. My father left my stepmother substantial monies to pay for her nursing care that her son, as her POA and his wife as POA have used for their own purposes to weaken her asset pool. This is all going to Probate Court in a month or two but the house if for sale now. What can I expect from Medicaid who has been invited to the rape-the-estate party?
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Are you dealing with MERP (Medicaid Estate Recovery Program)? or are you all selling the house because it is just the best situation as family cannot manage the house expenses and upkeep? In most states, you do NOT have to sell the house in order for them to stay on Medicaid for NH. Some states do NOT allow the house to be an exempt asset if they enter Medicaid will less than 6 months to live (usually cancer situation). But other than states that take that approach, their house can remain an exempt asset from Medicaid until they die. Then after death you have to deal with MERP and the house and the possible proceeds from the sale to MERP. But there are many exemptions to MERP - so MERP does not happen all the time.

Did you get a Realtor to do comps? I'd go that route to get an idea of what is a fair offer. Any Realtor can easily do this for you as they have MLS (multiple listing services) and all they do is put in the address and the report comes out. This will give you hard data on what stuff is actually going to close and selling for.

Is the person doing the cash offer, a friend of any family or member of the family (even extended family...like cousin's BIL)?

My mom is in a NH & on Medicaid. She still owns her home, files a homestead exemption on it and does an annual "want to return" letter regarding the house. I & another family member pay for all on the house as her $ goes towards her co-pay at the NH. Not until she passes away will we even think about selling it and dealing with MERP.
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