Most people want their home to go to their children or other family members when they die, not the government. Medicaid Estate Recovery can force your home to be sold to pay the government back.
With expert Medicaid planning, especially advanced planning, seniors can ensure that their homes will stay in the family after their death and not be lost to estate recovery. There are several different planning options you can use to protect your home from the Medicaid Estate Recovery Program. Reach out to Elder Law Lawyers, and we’ll discuss these options with you, or keep reading to learn more.
Steps to Protect Your Home from Medicaid
Upon your death, Medicaid expects to be repaid for the money it spent on your nursing home care. This repayment requirement is enforced through the Medicaid Estate Recovery Program (MERP). However, this doesn’t have to affect your home. Ensure your assets go where you want them to with help from our experienced attorneys in Lexington & Northern Kentucky.
Setting Up Appropriate Plans and Trusts Can Protect Your Assets Upon Your Death
By using a long-term care trust, you can protect your property from estate recovery when you die; even if you have a long stay in a nursing home. Since your child is not the property owner, the property is protected from many financial complications or personal disasters that may happen in your child’s life as well.
A trust allows you to protect your real estate and other assets from long-term care costs while avoiding the risks and negative consequences of outright transfers to children. There are typically beneficial tax implications as well. By transferring your home and other assets into a properly designed trust, you can still reserve an interest in the transferred assets. These advantages are not available when transfers are made outright to a child or children.
Your Medicaid Recovery FAQs
Many people will be unable to pay for long-term care that they are likely to need as they age. Few families can pay $90,000 a year or more to a nursing home. Fortunately, when you run out of money to pay for nursing home care, the government Medicaid program will usually pay.
Since nursing homes and home care are so expensive, many care recipients eventually run out of money and rely solely on Medicaid benefits. This can put your home and assets in jeopardy due to MERP repayment policies, but with thorough planning assisted by experienced elder law attorneys, you can protect the things that are important to you.
The best way to save your house from Medicaid recovery is by putting the house into an irrevocable trust. A trust protects the home because the individual no longer owns the house. This benefits the family in multiple ways. The parents can be protected from the children deciding it’s time for the parents to move out, and there are tax benefits for the children if a trust is used as opposed to the house being an outright gift.
However, everyone’s circumstances are unique—contact Elder Law Lawyers today to discuss the best way to save your house from Medicaid. Even if you’re worried it’s too late, there’s almost always something that can be done to protect your family’s assets.
The Medicaid Estate Recovery Program (MERP) is designed to compensate Medicaid programs for the money contributed by Medicaid to an individual’s nursing home care. MERP enforces this repayment requirement and ensures that Medicaid is able to function as it should for all members of society who need it.
Some people may use “MERP” to refer to a Medical Expense Reimbursement Plan (MERP), but this pertains to a type of employer HRA, not related to the elder law topic being discussed here.
When it comes to elder law estate planning and Medicaid planning, our clients at Elder Law Lawyers frequently ask us if the nursing home or Medicaid can take the home to pay a nursing home bill. Upon the death of a Medicaid recipient, the state may seek repayment of its outlays for the senior’s long-term care.
The Medicaid Estate Recovery Program (MERP) recoups this money by filing claims against any assets a Medicaid recipient held an interest in at the time of their death, such as a home. For example, say a person was in a Medicaid-certified nursing home for two years, and the state paid the nursing home $4,000 each month for their care. If the house was still in the person’s name at the time of death, then to repay the state the $90,000, the house would have to be sold.
With expert planning, seniors can ensure that their homes will stay in the family after their deaths and not be lost to estate recovery. Contact Elder Law Lawyers today to learn more.
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Contact Our Elder Law Attorneys
Get in touch with the experienced Elder Law Lawyers team today to take proactive steps that defend your home, your loved ones, and your peace of mind. Our team is dedicated to providing clients with long-term benefits, and our methods tend to be much less expensive than even a year of nursing home care. We’re committed to seeing that you won’t spend a penny more than you absolutely need to.
When you die, Medicaid expects to be repaid for the money it spent on your assisted living care. This repayment requirement is enforced through the Medicaid Estate Recovery Program (MERP), but it doesn’t have to spell financial difficulties for your loved ones. Reach out to the Elder Law Lawyers team today to discuss your options and create a proactive, protective plan.