I have looked around and can't seem to find the answer. My parents have nothing to their name except for a paid for house and very little money in the bank. My dad needs 24 hour care and we have exhausted almost all funds to pay for it. Now he needs to get qualified for Medicaid and go into a NH. He would ordinarily qualify, and my mom would get to stay in their house as a spouse in the community. However, years ago, my parents co-signed a mortgage on my house, and the title company said that because they were co-signing, their name would be on the deed. They have never lived with me and they have never made a payment on my house. If I am understanding correctly, it seems that he won't qualify under the Medicaid resource limits, because in the state's eyes he has more than one house. Can anyone tell me if that is true? Or direct me where I should be looking or who I should be talking to?
Your place is non exempt asset for him.
They & you need really good attorneys, both Medicaid savvy elder law one and one that does real estate law. To unthread ownership on your place will not be simple. I’m going to guess that you have been paying all property costs on your place, right? Like you’ve paid all insurance, taxes, maintenance, etc, right? And for years. Well your folks kinda owe you for all that based on thier % of ownership with interest and getting it figured out not a DIY. That what real estate atty do. Plus they can deal with determining accurate value of the property that’s equitable for each owner. I’ll bet the current tax assessor value for the place isn’t quite accurate, so this will need to be done. Plus they can deal with mortgage co to get new mortgage issued, if your still in payment mode.
Also if mom as the “community spouse” is likely to outlive dad, the elder law atty can look at how to position her to get her own needs allowance from dads income. So that not all his income goes towards his Medicaid required copay to theNH. Mom as a CS is allowed to have her own assets - most states have this at 128K - & have her own monthly income and neither goes to dads eligibility for his LTC NH Medicaid. Only he has to become impoverished not her.
Time is of the essence. Medicaid for couples does a snapshot day to which all thier financials are affixed to. So whatever $ or assets that need to legitimately move or get shifted needs to happen before that day and clear thier bank statements. You kinda need to hold off on his going into a NH till a plan of action is determined. Good luck.