Sister has power of attorney. Home value is $97,000.00 in Kentucky. Mother has been in a nursing home since Jan 5th, 2022. She's 92 years old and will not come out of the nursing home. Sister and mom have agreed to sell the house so she can have money to continue self-pay in the nursing home. What paperwork do I need to have so when she does go on Medicaid it will not delay the process?
Please consult an eldercare attorney about your mother's specific situation in HER state.
That is the way the system works, so you must allow your loved one to be financially dependent so that Medicaid will get approved and you will not have to sacrifice your home. I will make another appointment to see if we could refinance for some cash and avoid selling the nest egg until AFTER Medicaid gets approved.
We recently had a situation where my brother in law, who's on Medicaid, was joint owner of land with my husband and another brother. My husband is POA. The town appraisal, which is what we had to put on his Medicaid application, has always been way too high. The caseworker advised us to get two professional appraisals and send them copies so they would be on file. That way, if they sold the land for under the town-appraised amount there would be documentation that it was at FMV. Sure enough, a year or two later they did sell the land, and it was for well under the town appraisal, but there was no problem at all with Medicaid. Now, of course, with this extra asset brother-in-law will have to pay back Medicaid for some months of his care, but that's fair.
Very state specific question. Good luck.
Your Mom does not NEED to sell the home now. If this was Mom's only home, her primary residence, she can keep the home. The home will stand to pay her medicaid debts after her death, however, so in any sale of it a lot of the money will go to medicaid clawback.
You should attend an Elder Law Attorney with your Sister to see what your LEGAL options are for your State. This is not something to ask a Forum of strangers. This is something to get EXPERT advice on.
If appraisal comes in less than the current tax assessor placed value, that appraisal establishes why it’s less. It’s a legal document. So if Medicaid should actually need to be filed for in the future as mom has run out of $, and there is any question why it sold for less, the appraisal establishes why.
if you wanted to go a step further in all this, your mom could get the house inspected first and then that inspection report is given to the appraiser to use as a reference in their report. If house has lots of delayed maintenance &/or the majors (roof, electrical, plumbing) are old / vintagey, you might really want to get it inspected first. Inspector will go in detail on how beyond code the situation is. Will lower its value a lot. Best of luck in your quest!