JTsMom
03-22-2007, 05:09 PM
Hoping someone might be familiar with this stuff...
This is re my grandparents:
Grandparents have just under 100K in the bank, don't have any other assests. If Grandfather were to go on Medicaid, go into a nursing home paid for by Medicaid, then dies, what would happen to that money? What if Grandmother died first?
Hope that makes sense. I found this, but the copyright is 97-99, so who knows if it has changed.
http://www.eldernet.com/lawover.htm
""Estate recovery" refers to state laws that allow the state Medicaid agency to file a claim against the estate of an individual who received benefits during his or her lifetime. The amount of such a claim is the amount spent on that individual’s care by the program.
In light of the extremely low asset limit for Medicaid eligibility, the only assets of value that a Medicaid recipient may have at death are those that were not counted for purposes of Medicaid eligibility. Of all such assets, a personal residence usually is the only one of significant value. Thus, as a practical matter estate recovery concerns the treatment of the personal residence after death.
In order to assist with recovery against the personal residence, many states impose a lien on the property while the recipient is alive. Each state has its own procedure for liens. To learn more about whether your state has such a policy and what it may be, check with your local agency. If you don’t have contact information for your state, find it at the State Medicaid Toll-Free Lines page of the Health Care Financing Administration website.Federal law requires states to pursue estate recovery in all institutionalized cases, and it allows estate recovery in community cases as well. OBRA-93 expanded the scope of estate recovery to include non-probate property at the state’s option, such as life estates, jointly-held interests and property in trust. To date, however, only a handful of states have sought to expand estate recovery beyond the probate estate. Of these, only one or two have successfully done so. To find out the status of estate recovery in your state, check with your local agency. If you don’t have contact information for your state, find it at the State Medicaid Toll-Free Lines page of the Health Care Financing Administration website."
Judging from that, I'd assume the state would take any money that had been spent on his care IF Grandma died first, BUT, since the $ is in a joint account, would it be the same if he died first? I don't understand this stuff at all.
This is such a long story, but I'm trying to help my mom figure some of this out. She called an attorney specializing in elder law, and he refused to let her know what fees would be involved to answer this ONE question. Nice, huh?
Any help would be much appreciated. Oh, and they live in FL btw, if that matters.
This is re my grandparents:
Grandparents have just under 100K in the bank, don't have any other assests. If Grandfather were to go on Medicaid, go into a nursing home paid for by Medicaid, then dies, what would happen to that money? What if Grandmother died first?
Hope that makes sense. I found this, but the copyright is 97-99, so who knows if it has changed.
http://www.eldernet.com/lawover.htm
""Estate recovery" refers to state laws that allow the state Medicaid agency to file a claim against the estate of an individual who received benefits during his or her lifetime. The amount of such a claim is the amount spent on that individual’s care by the program.
In light of the extremely low asset limit for Medicaid eligibility, the only assets of value that a Medicaid recipient may have at death are those that were not counted for purposes of Medicaid eligibility. Of all such assets, a personal residence usually is the only one of significant value. Thus, as a practical matter estate recovery concerns the treatment of the personal residence after death.
In order to assist with recovery against the personal residence, many states impose a lien on the property while the recipient is alive. Each state has its own procedure for liens. To learn more about whether your state has such a policy and what it may be, check with your local agency. If you don’t have contact information for your state, find it at the State Medicaid Toll-Free Lines page of the Health Care Financing Administration website.Federal law requires states to pursue estate recovery in all institutionalized cases, and it allows estate recovery in community cases as well. OBRA-93 expanded the scope of estate recovery to include non-probate property at the state’s option, such as life estates, jointly-held interests and property in trust. To date, however, only a handful of states have sought to expand estate recovery beyond the probate estate. Of these, only one or two have successfully done so. To find out the status of estate recovery in your state, check with your local agency. If you don’t have contact information for your state, find it at the State Medicaid Toll-Free Lines page of the Health Care Financing Administration website."
Judging from that, I'd assume the state would take any money that had been spent on his care IF Grandma died first, BUT, since the $ is in a joint account, would it be the same if he died first? I don't understand this stuff at all.
This is such a long story, but I'm trying to help my mom figure some of this out. She called an attorney specializing in elder law, and he refused to let her know what fees would be involved to answer this ONE question. Nice, huh?
Any help would be much appreciated. Oh, and they live in FL btw, if that matters.