I am my grandmas Power of Attorney and she is in a Nursing Home. They say i need to sell her mobile home?

Lil'Ruth - I'm assuming that grannie is on or is applying for Medicaid, if so, the NH cannot force grannie sell her home; they cannot force the DPOA sell her home. The home if it is her homestead and primary residence is an exempt asset for Medicaid. But what is more likely happening is that you are being told that the home needs to be sold as it's an asset that grannie cannot afford to keep due to how Medicaid rules are set up. & the NH has had lots of experience in all this and are telling you to sell it as realistically grannie cannot afford the mobile home anymore. And the NH has the experience in that there will be co-pay & eligibility issues down the road if grannie keeps it.

Has anyone clearly explained how NH Medicaid works for grannies income & assets. I'm going to assume not…..OK then, under NH Medicaid they basically need to be impoverished with under 2K in non-exempt assets and under whatever your state has for monthly income limit (most are about $ 2,100 a mo and the monthly is their SS and any retirement income). IF grannie was living in a mobile home, she probably was pretty low income to start with so ok on the non-exempt asset & income limits to be eligible for Medicaid.

But!! Medicaid requires them to do a co-pay or their SOC (share of cost). Which means that all the monthly income grannie gets each month must be paid to the NH as her SOC. All she is allowed to keep is a small personal needs allowance. The PNA varies by state from $ 35 - 105 a month. Most are $ 50 or $ 60 a month. That's it for grannie for $ anymore. Really the PNA is just enough to pay for her going to the on-site beauty shoppe and some toiletries and clothing replacement. All those costs to keep the mobile home - like taxes, upkeep, rent if its at a "park" or property taxes if its on land she owns - well grannie won't have ANY $ to ever pay on the home again. That's why you are being told it needs to be sold. Grannie can't afford it. Comprende?

The NH has likely found that having residents on Medicaid who still own their home gets to be a continuous problem as the SOC gets diverted to pay for taxes; or family is late in paying the SOC; or stuff doesn't get paid back at the mobile home and the NH starts to get collections looking for grannie…. Plus keeping it is going to mean more paperwork for grannies annual renewal for Medicaid as she will have to show current value, tax assessor bill, ownership documents, etc and its the sort of things that family just stop ever deal with but becomes a problem for Medicaid eligibility if the renewal is not done, which means a problem for the NH.

But the mobile home can be an exempt asset for grannie for the rest of her life. So if you live in it or have whatever reasons for wanting to keep it, you can have her continue to own it. BUT If family want her to keep it, then family will have to pay all the costs on it and for the rest of her life and THEN deal with it being an asset of her estate with some sort of claim or lein attempt on it as all those on Medicaid are required to have an attempt at recovery (MERP) of all the $ that Medicaid paid for her care. Add to this that most mobile homes are totally crappy on resale value and located in less than desirable areas, keeping it may not make sense. But its your call as you are the DPOA, if you want to keep it and pay for it and run the risk that all must be sold as you or other heirs have no hope of any MERP exemptions or exclusions. If you keep it, I'd suggest you get an appraisal of it as it could be pretty low and under the cost-effectiveness for MERP to be done within probate after grannie dies. Think it all over…. do the math.

It's my take that the NH is suggesting that you sell it so that everybody cuts their losses and lessens any future problems.

If its worth very little $, and you decide to sell it, I'd suggest that you need to try to get all the $ from the sale to be done as a spend-down within the month (so it gets sold on right after the first of a month), so that grannie starts the month eligible for Medicaid and ends the month eligible for Medicaid. If she does not have a funeral burial policy, that alone could be 8 - 10 K and use most of the $ from the sale. The SW at the NH could have specific suggestions as to things grannie could get that works for spend-down for her situation at the NH. Good luck!

Is your Grandmother under Medicaid? If so, Medicaid will place a lien on the property, thus when your Grandmother passed on, Medicaid will use whatever equity there is in the house to be paid. Any equity left over can be dispersed as per the Will.