My mother has not sold her home, but is under Medicaid at a Nursing Home. Who pays for utilities, taxes, etc. until the home sells?

ANother thought, mom is on Medicaid, correct? Do you have a copy of mom's Medicaid application? Go through it to see how your state does the MERP notice. MERP is estate recovery and if they are on Medicaid there will be MERP after death. Some states file this as a lein on the property as a matter of course. For even more fun, it doesn't show up as a traditional mechanic's lein but will show up when the buyer tries to get title insurance. There may be a release of MERP lien form from the state needed in order for clear title to be issued. Alot of Realtors have never dealt with medicaid MERP leins or claims and it can be an problem in delaying the sale without planning.

You need to ask the caseworker what needs to happen with the proceeds from the sale. I bet the caseworker will kick up your request to their supervisor. Ideally at closing there should be 6 people being paid: the Sellers Realtor, the buyers Realtor; the county assessor for whatever taxes are due; the title company; you & your DH reinbursed for all costs related to the property based to the penny on your list; and then your mom BUT the state Medicaid program may require that mom's $ to be placed against her Medicaid tally. Ask so that there are NO not so pretty surprises at closing that could delay the sale.

Do ask your Realtor is they have ever had a Medicaid MERP claim property sale issues before too. Good luck.

lburk - you are - unfortunately - going to have to speak to the Medicaid caseworker about this. Although in theory Medicaid rules determining the recipient’s share of long-term care costs allow income to be set aside for home maintenance expenses for a period of time, the amount of these allowances may be limited at state option. So what worked for VStef's mom may not work for your mom in your state. My mom is in TX in a NH on Medicaid and still has her home. She maintains her desire to want to return home via an annual statement but none of her "income" is held for house expenses. When I asked about a diversion of her income for home expenses (rather than paying all but her personal allowance to NH), I was told that although it could happen it would need to be for a limited period of time (like 6 months) and only if there was a valid Realtor agreement with an active listing on the property and those documents provided to Medicaid. However, since she was maintaining a "right to return" then there was no diversion waiver. But under TX Medicaid rules, whomever pays for expenses related to the home (must be empty, not occupied) can ask for those costs to be deducted from the possible MERP claim against mom's estate after death.If family is living in the house, then they have to assume all costs with no MERP deduction. Really it is set up to totally discourage family from keeping the house as the costs do add uo.
their personal care allowance is low enough that it really is just enough $ for hairdresser or magazines or some clothing replacement so no $ there to pay for taxes, insurance, repairs,etc.

Also you can file it all as a lien against the proceeds of the sale if you can do a mechanic's lein or have another agreement in place attached to the terms of the sale. You will have to talk with your Realtor about this and don't wait till closing.
What you can do now is get a binder and start collecting all your reciepts and cancelled checks & start a journal of every and all expenses on the house. Medicaid is a stickler for detailed documentation and that $ 78.00 you paid to have a tree chainsawed down after a hailstorm was $ 78.00 you should be reimbursed for. You really have to pay for whatever - especially taxes as you do NOT want a glitch in the title search - for the length of time it takes to sell. Ask your Realtor what the DOM is like for the comps in mom's area. DOM is days on market. If it 2 months and you are going into month 4, have a reality check with the Realtor on what the issues are for the house. You want to document all this too just in case Medicaid gives you lip about getting less than the assessor value of the home.
Good luck and get that binder and notebook going!

I am not paying the nursing home personally, she is using her SS to pay what she can at the nursing home, and Medicaid is picking up the rest. She will NOT return home. I have her home for sale, but it needs basic utilities (water, electric, gas) so that it can be shown by the realtor. I want to know if I can take these bills out of her SS from the top, and pay the remainder of her SS income to the nursing home. I just don't feel my family is responsible for the upkeep of bills, insurance, and taxes while her home is on the market to be sold.

Ok, this is confusing. If mom is on Medicaid, why are you paying the nursing home? Medicaid usually allows for the person to keep enough $$ for costs of living at the home as long as the stated intention is to return home. Normally the parents income should be used for their expenses; we used to chip in some to keep things going, but in the long run it would have been more than we could afford and we sold once I knew Mom would not be able to go home. Check with the NH admin and/or Medicaid office before deciding what to do...there will be pros and cons to any approach.