My father owns a mobile home in west Virginia that was his primary residence until he recently got sick. He needs Medicaid to pay for a nursing home but will they take his mobile home after he dies if his daughter and family live there? What can we do to keep this from happening?
The best thing to do is to consult with a certified Eldercare attorney who is familiar with Medicaid.
Medicaid will place a lien on the property that will need to be satisfied after dad's death, but there are exemptions, such as one for caregiver family members that reside in the home if they have been providing care for a certain number of years.
The biggest challenge may be relicensing it.
Your his child. Did you provide care for 2 years before this that would have kept him off of medicaid. If so, the child caregiver exemption is in play and he can transfer the house to you as part of the medicaid application process. She an elder care lawyer that knows about this. Surprisingly, not all do. I've spoken to lawyers who knew nothing about it. These were elder law "experts".
Do you live in a state that only attempts recovery on probated assets? If so, fill out a transfer on death dead. That removes that asset from probate and thus no recovery.
As always, I have no idea what I am saying. I'm just rambling.
Is the daughter on SS disability? If so, she will be able to live there. If not, maybe buy the trailer for Market Value. That money will go to Dads care. Maybe Medicaid will allow them to stay but they will have to pay rent which will go towards Dads care. So will his pension, if he has one, and his SS so hope they are not relying on his check/s to live.
Really, this is a question for Medicaid.
We post from a variety of state perspectives. But my red alert question is, what kind of legal documents do you have in this matter? Joint tenancy? Right of survivorship.
I have found them very helpful, frankly. We are not yet applying but will be.
Or just mobile home and there is rent paid for the lot it is placed on?
Medicaid isn’t in the used mobile home business. They don’t want it or a house or a car or the land. They want to be reimbursed for costs paid by Medicaid for his care. But Medicaid has all sorts of exemptions, exclusions as well as cost benefit analysis that goes into what actions can or will be taken to get reimbursement. Your states laws on property and property rights and probate will also make a difference as to how Estate Recovery (MERP) is done or limited by.
If its just a mobile home on rented park/lot, it may not be worth very much $. Mobile homes tend to loose value significantly. We went through H. Katrina and had friends who bought mobile homes to use as interim housing while they stick built a new home and found the mobile home had beyond lousy resale value. Really find out it’s value. Also Some states do not do Recovery process on homestead property under a set value. Like for MS, $75 is the tipping value for property for recovery.
But all these are after death issues.....
the more immediate would be the requirement for Medicaids copay or SOC (share of cost) from your dads monthly income like his SS to the NH. Has anyone explained this to you all?
Once he goes into a LTC facility and applies for Medicaid, basically all his monthly income must be paid to the NH as his SOC. He will have a small PNA personal needs allowance of $35-$115 a mo to keep. But that’s it. All & any of his debts, like credit cards, property taxes, property insurance, utilities etc. will have no-none-nada of his $ to use to pay anymore. The PNA averages $50 and usually is barely enough for his barbershop costs and toiletries & minimal clothing replacement. He can continue to keep his homestead but has no $ for it. If you live in it, medicaid may want FMV rent paid for your living in his home.
Before he goes into a NH, find out clearly how his states Medicaid deals with his ability to continue to own the mobile home and look at if you can pay all of its costs and perhaps also rent.
There are MRL's, Mobile Home Residency Laws.
And, if the MH is in a MH park, there are Park Rules and Regulations, for example, seniors only in a senior MH park.
When it will cause a financial hardship to "family" - a spouse, Medicaid Recovery can give a waiver. You are right to be finding out early.