A daughter draining her mother's bank accounts for Medicaid didn't know the state would later claim the mother's $225,000 home after her death in 2021. Jerry Taylor explains how a trust set up early could have protected it, and warns about hidden rules in government guidance that trap families.
A government worker told her exactly how to qualify her sick mom for Medicaid, but what she did not tell her was the part where Medicaid takes the house. Her mom had early onset Alzheimer's, and while she was caring for her, she got breast cancer. So she asked Medicaid for help. The Medicaid rep told her that she needed to drain her mother's bank accounts so that she would qualify. So she did exactly that. It wasn't a lot of money, but what the government rep never told her was that the second mom dies, the government's going to come for the house. Mom ended up dying in 2021, and the bill came shortly thereafter. $225,000, along with a letter that said, sell your dead mom's home or we're going to get a court order. And what she nor her mom realized was that the state can't take a house that's not in mom's name for a period of time. The right trust done early, and the state's claim would have died at the door. Government will tell you how to qualify. They're not as good at telling you what it's going to cost. Now some of you are going to say, well, it was in the document she signed. Yeah, maybe it was. Page 14, paragraph 6. While mom had Alzheimer's and the daughter was suffering from breast cancer. That's not disclosure. That's a fine print trap. I'll be talking about this and other estate planning topics in my free workshop this week. If you will comment the word workshop, I will send you the link to register.
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