Protect your Home from a Medicaid Lien!

More and more LGBT seniors are becoming concerned about the cost of a potential stay in a nursing home.  Although most of us would rather not spend our last days in a nursing home, no matter how much our partner, friends and other family members love us, caring for a sick or elderly loved one at home can be so stressful that a stay in a nursing home often becomes necessary.

Moreover, a 2003 Kaiser Family Foundation Survey found that there is a 45% chance that a person aged 65 or older will spend at least some time in a nursing home and the average nursing home stay is 2.4 years.

Medicaid is the most common way of paying for nursing home costs, and, in order to qualify, you will need to determine the value of your assets.

Even though the Medicaid rules say that your home is an “exempt” asset which is not counted when you apply for Medicaid -- and here's the rub -- once you are on Medicaid, they may be able to put a lien on your home.  A lien is like a mortgage.  It will guarantee that the government will be paid back money that they pay for your nursing home costs.

After the funeral or memorial service, the government will notify your partner -- even if you own the home jointly with rights of survivorship -- (or if your partner dies before you, they will approach the beneficiaries you named in your will or trust)and offer them the choice of paying off the Medicaid lien, and, if they are unable to do so, the government will likely force a sale of your home and keep the proceeds, up to the amount that is owed to them.  If there is any money left after all expenses are paid, your partner or other beneficiaries will get to keep the extra.

Because your partner is likely to lose his or her home to nursing home costs, it becomes important to protect your home from a Medicaid lien by setting up an Irrevocable Medicaid Trust.  

You may purchase a stand alone Medicaid Trust here or add it to your purchase of a Last Will or Living Trust Package.

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