My mother lives in ND and has property that she owns in Texas, she did a warranty dead that says that property goes to her 4 kids with Joint Tenancy upon her death. I have heard that as long as she has funds for 5 years beyond the time she put this dead in place we are ok. Is this correct?
Mom will not be eligible for Medicaid in ND.
The property in TX will be considered an non-exempt asset for ND Medicaid; Medicaid- which is administered uniquely by each state - allows for their homestead to be an exempt asset. So if it was in Fargo, then ok & exempt asset as she is a resident of ND & house is in ND. But house in Austin or Alpine will NOT as it's in another state where she is a non-resident. So until TX property sold at FMV with proceeds from the sale spent down till she gets to a max of 2k in exempt assets will she ever be eligible for ND Medicaid.
Property ownership is all recorded. States provide info to other states. Medicaid can access IRS too. If mom is on Medicare, CMS has all records with addresses too which states HHS can data mine. There will be a easy trail to see where mom has lived for a decade plus. Medicaid application requires disclosure of all asset information with penalty on whomever did application for omissions. My point is.... house ownership will surface eventually with significant penalty, so keeping TX house & getting ND medicaid is a nonstarter imo.
Mom may be able to put TX property on the market with a Realtor & MLS listing # (no so FSBO nonsense) and be "Medicaid Pending" in ND for a period of time if ND Medicaid rules allow for this. Like maybe 6 mos. So basically house has to get sold within this timeframe & then once sold she does a spend-down of the $ to eventually become reeligibile for Medicaid.
But please PLS pls realize IF mom goes into a facility and onto Medicaid, all her monthly income must go to pay her Medicaid required SOC / share of cost. Mom will have basically no $ to ever realistically pay any of the expenses (taxes, insurance, utilities, etc) on the house in another (& not neighboring) state. Family will need to pay all. And it will be very difficult to be reinbursed for costs paid when property sold as it tends to be viewed as gifting.
Really your moms situation is complicated. Gather up all her paperwork & legal as get her to an NAELA level elder law atty in ND as they care going to need to work with one in TX as the warranty "DEED" needs to be looked over to determine just wtf was done for TX law. It kinda sounds like mom did a LE with JT on it but you need somebody legal to determine this definitively. I'd try to do this asap as TX tax assessor bills go out in TX end of Oct and if there's recording changes to be done you want to get this done asap. Good luck!
Financially usually means monthly income under whatever ND has set (most states under $2,100) and a 2k maximum for non-exempt assets with exempt assets as per state rules (like property needs to be their homestead). That house in TX is a non-exempt asset & until she sells it at FMV and does a spend down to get to 2k in nonexempt assets will she be eligible. Whether she did the WD with some sort of after death JT last year, 6 years ago or 10 yrs ago doesn't matter, it's still her asset.
To me, figuring out if her true ownership is 100% or 20% is mucho importante, & you need an atty to definitively determine what the ownership is and recorded correctly at the the TX courthouse. It's not a DIY. It's a ? for TX real estate atty to answer to the ND atty mom has. Also the TX atty can shepherd any corrective recording or a property sale for TX house as all needs to be done just right.
Imo again, you need to get with a very experienced elder law atty - NAELA level- in ND to start determining if she can ever be eligible for Medicaid. Atty costs mom needs to totally pay for from her assets.
Remember even when you get though TX house issues, when mom goes on ND NH Medicaid & wants to keep her ND house, she will realistically have NO-nada-zero $ to pay any of the house expenses due to the SOC /share of cost paid to the NH. Family will have to pay all house costs knowing that Medicaid is required to attempt to place a lien or a claim on the house to reimburse the state for the $ Medicaid paid for her care due to MERP & it's up to family to provide with documentation any exemptions or exclusions. Someone out of the 4 future heirs will need to coordinate payments & oversight on house stuff from day 1 of Medicaid till beyond death; deal with MERP and likely open probate as well.
Yeah, It can be done but 1 of the 4 better have the wallet or purse to afford all co$t$ for possibly year$ & year$, have good reason to honor moms wishes to keep her house, have a very deep sense of humor & ability to accept risk. And be willing to pay for things that the other 3 promised to pay or do and then don't & without reimbursement..... think about it......
Otherwise...the asset would have to be sold and the proceeds used to pay for her care. Medicaid requires her to has no more than $2k in assets...except prepaid funeral expenses. If there is a husband..the. A car and the house are exempt till he enters Medicaid too or dies.
BUT for those on NH Medicaid, they have to have all non exempt assets under 2k. For those who that have a home most sell their home & then spend down all to get under the 2K. Invariably they over time spend all their 2k & all their personal needs monthly allowance. So when they finally die, they truly die impoverished, no assets. So no need to ever deal with whatever was in their will; no assets to ever be distributed; no need for probate. The will still exists but never called upon to be used as no assets, no estate.
But the terms of a will does matter if the elder keeps their home (Medicaid allows home to remain an exempt asset for their lifetime) &/or has a life insurance policy that names the estate as beneficiary. Both become assets of their estate. Just what estate recovery can do regarding being repaid for Medicaid costs will involve your states laws for probate & property. Some states allow for a lien placed, others it's a claim. If probate opened, all go through probate system. Hopefully executor can afford probate or the deceased did an insurance policy owned by executor for probate costs. Whatever probate law is takes over. Like for TX, it's a Level of Claim by Class with MERP coming in as a Class 7 claim. All class 1 - 6 are priority before 7; class 1 - 4 could claim all assets. If so the terms of the will is very important as it determines how a distribution is to be done. It's not simple.....