How can I get the Medicaid folks to leave my husband alone?

Suggestions are being made here that are wrong. All the OP has to do is what Medicaid is asking. Put the house up for sale and clean out. If the house sits there for years unsold and rots, thats Medicaids problem because they expect Market Value. So instead of allowing the house to be sold at what family can get, they get nothing. Actually, non-payment of taxes will probably get it placed for Sheriff sale. Taxes come before a Medicaid lean.

I was just about ready to turn the heat off, electric and water when Moms house sold. Family is not obligated to keep it up. Really, there is no way they would know it wasn't cleaned out. No rep from the State ever checked Moms house out. All was done through paperwork. All OP needs to do is send Medicaid a reality contract. Then they can turn everything off and walk away.

Imho, you need to retain an elder law attorney.

This happened with us. You are going to have to sell it because if your husband needs to be put in a nursing home paid for by Medicaid, they won’t pay for it. We had to sell my husband’s mother’s house and pay back the months she was in the nursing home being paid for by Medicaid. Before that she was private pay but ran out of money.

I’d be suspicious of anyone claiming to be calling from Medicaid and threatening you to get out and sell your home. I doubt you will find too many people with that kind of experience.
Maybe a neighbor that knows his situation and is motivated in buying out the property and a low price? I wouldn’t put it past some people who have deceitful ideas.

When my mil died she owed more on a reverse mortgage on the house for more than it was worth. Various people, including the bank, wanted us to do thousands of dollars worth of cleaning, repairs, etc. We offered them deed and keys to just take it. Wasted weeks trying to talk to them. They refused. We took what little we wanted from the house, invited the mil's handyman to take what he might want, then locked up the house and abandoned it. We threw away further correspondence and blocked phone calls. About a year later we noticed in the paper that the house was being sold as a repo. I assume that repossessing the house cost them money. Fools. They could have simply taken it when we offered to do it.

Abandon the house. Refuse calls. Eventually someone will foreclose on it.

Easy! Just donate the house to the Federal government, and send Medicaid the receipt.

If he's not worried about it then you shouldn't worry about it.
They can't make him do anything if so then they would have already done it.
He needs to tell Medicare he isn't well and they need to Back Off or he will file harassment charges.
Or tell them if they want they can clean out the house and put it For Sell.

In reality nothing will happen. Your husband should ignore the threats and ultimately the state will auction off the house. They have a lien against it. Meaning that if it were to go through a court process and your husbands power of attorney (you) explained your husband’s health condition the end result would be the state selling the house. You’d lose any extra monies from the sale if there were more money than your mil owed the state. The old saying you can’t squeeze blood from a rock. Most of the time the state won’t actually do anything unless it’s worth it to them financially. Meaning the house is actually in sellable condition to retrieve the states money vs litigation costs.

Yes........help him to get in contact with a good Elder attorney ASAP and they will help sort things out. i wouldn't empty any contents until you contact an attorney. wishing you luck.

Sorry, but you need a lawyer now, especially if the home was to be used as a way to qualify for Medicaid. It was not your spouse's asset yet he made money from it, when it was used to calculate his mother's spend down to qualify for assistance. I do not see any other way other than to sell home and pay the debt owed, sorry this was not taken to a lawyer, and word to wise, a home is an asset for the person residing but if they require Medicaid, then you spend down and use the funds for their care, not make profit. Or, keep home and take care of your loved one, most want nothing other than to use assets for themselves and place care on government, it will not occur. I advise you to see an attorney and be sure this is not your issue as well, and that you know exactly what you are facing. Sorry, people understand keep assets, then do the caregiving, cannot sell assets and give all what will take care of the family member. Government does not care about you using money for your lifestyle while getting their help with your loved one. All of this needs to be managed before we get there, many of us have no assets to give adult children who do not want to care for us, so just make your plans for your caregiving and stop telling the family members they got an inheritance, if you are unmarried, your assets will go towards your care. Easy question? Are you being cared for or not? If not, see an attorney and prepare your plans for taking care of yourself with use of professionals, unfortunately most family members do not desire to take care of you, but do want your assets. Sounds harsh? Sorry, very realistic yet we get stuck playing this game. Many cannot afford the real daily rate for a nursing home, so yes, you need Medicaid for assistance, they are not just going to give it to your loved one while you live off of their assets. It might be wise to sell home, and get loved one assistance to stay with you, loving family member and use income to pay for this care. You are still free to manage things, not doing daily caregiving -- paying for it, and if not aggressive, many just need companion at home. So many things to do, but most get stuck on money, no caregiving and not at all experienced.

Call a lawyer in the community the house is in. He/She can tell you both what you can and can not do in regards to Medicaid (probably can't sell it if used for mom's nursing home bill). As for the guy's stuff, most likely you can notify the prison system that the gentleman has 30 days to clear his possessions or you will dispose of them. But, please follow the advice of a lawyer since you need to cover yourselves from liability.

Better make sure any property taxes have been paid on the house or it may get sold by the local government for back taxes.

Consult with a CERTIFIED eldercare attorney. Expensive but oh so worthy every dime.

No one suggested auction. An auctioneer will sell the house and its contents.

Also, is there a relative of the prisoner to contact about the items left in the home? Or even a letter to the prisoner telling him what is about to happen. Give him thirty days from the day he gets the letter (not the day the prison mail system gets the letter) to respond to you. (I write to someone in prison here in PA. All letters go to a facility in Florida, are opened and scanned and then the scans are sent to the prison for disbursement. The prisoner will not get your original letter, just a copy. Don't enclose anything. One sheet of white paper in a white envelope. Must be white.)

I think you need to speak to a lawyer to find out the position of the stuff left behind by the guy in prison. Does he still own it? Can you dispose of it? etc. If you can get rid of it then either fling it open for a giant "yard sale" and let people have what they want, get a clearance company to take the rest and then sell the house. If it won't sell for enough to cover the bill from medicaid with some left over then ask lawyer how to hand it to them. If there is nothing in this financially for you then pass it off to someone else to deal with, but ask a lawyer the best way to go about it because of this other person's stuff.

He should have a letter from Medicaid now - if they want the house AND they have your current address. Call the number on the form and tell them that hubby is not in a position to discuss financial matters. I'm going to say you may not have a collection letter (w/amt) yet because if hubby called them, doubtful they even know what was left in the estate at time of death.

Medicaid doesn't take the house when someone goes on the NH Med program. Medicaid looks at what is left in an estate at the time of death. Medicaid can't really ask for a certain amount of money because the don't even know what the house will sell for, condition it's in, etc.

I have to ask - when his mom died did she have a will? Did the will go through probate to distribute whatever was left - including the house? If all that was done, the house should have been moved to someone's name by now. If it's in your hubby's name, then get it listed as is by a real estate person to sell it. Real estate person handles everything for you and it's done. You might have to get an atty involved if none of the probate has been done yet since deed needs to pass from mom to son or trustee to be sold.

When my mother died, her only asset was her house, which had a balance due on the 1st mortgage of $5000, and a home equity loan balance of about $20,000. The executor of her will told us to let the house go into foreclosure and let the bank worry about it. Medicaid billed her estate for $86000, and it was satisfied after the house was sold at auction.

My SIL is a real estate agent. Deals with this kind of stuff all the time.

The 'cleaning out' is NOT the kind you'd do if you are just trying to get the garbage out and make it 'walkable'. PLus which, all the stuff in the house belongs to the owner of the house and for me, out of curiousity, I'd want to see what's there.

Personally, and this is just me, I'd do a walkthough and see what's there. Remove what had value and call 1-800-junk for the rest. The better the place looks, the quicker it will sell, but in our market, it will sell in one day, no matter how awful it looks.

Realtors are paid commissions to deal with all the garbage that goes along with this kind of deal. Find one you trust and get rid of this elephant in the room.

The longer a house sits unoccupied, the more it deteriorates. There is a house in my neighborhood that has sat empty for 3 years. Upon inspection, a TREE was found to have broken through the basement concrete foiundation and had grown up through the floor into the 2nd floor. NOT a sapling. A freaking TREE.

You may have fun digging through all the garbage, or not. I'm innately curious, so I'd be more likely to be involved in a simple cleanout, but you wouldn't HAVE to.

Neither the state nor a NH is “going to come & take the house”.
Neither is set up to deal with memaws old house likely filled w loads of stuff & maybe a tenant or caretaker &/or a family of woodland creatures.

Ok here’s my take…. the reason the state or the outside contractor for MERP aka estate recovery, needs hubs to do it is that neither have no easy legal standing to sell the house PLUS they are not about to assume the costs of utilities, taxes, insurance and maintenance on memaws house. It’s not gonna be a cute newish 450k condo on the coast but an old place w likely decades of delayed maintenance.
AND
Whatever tally Medicaid paid for your late MIL care is unsecured debt against MILs estate. It’s not securitized debt like a mortgage or a heloc, where those can come in an foreclose on a property, toss out any tenants and sell it. It’s not hubs debt. Its unsecured debt of his moms.

It sits in limbo & stays that way till something can legally change its status. Like an Executor if you entered probate. Like a tax assessor as existing state law has it if property taxes are not paid, it can go up for however your state has tax sale / tax redemption/ tax deed set up to run. ((Most states have a 3 yr system, so whomever wants the tax delinquent property can pony up $ and try to get it at tax sale yr after yr and wait it out till yr 4, but often nobody wants the actual property, the tax sake bidder wants the delinquent taxes w interest (hefty 18-28%) paid to them)). Otherwise its Limbo time! If you live in an area w older neighborhoods, you see these houses over & over….. overgrown yard, sagging rooflines & ransacked house. Nobody in the family has the time, $ or interest of dealing with the place so it sits. Fines go nowhere.

So IMO the state needs for whomever would be the heir to do whatever needed to take the house out of deceased persons name and then sell it and they waltz in to get the States supposed lien against the estate in order for the Act of Sale to actually go through. The heir(s) - whether there’s a will and they opened probate or no will and it’s a intestate death - has a tried & true path for having “standing” for the estate. The persons who have “standing” can go before a judge and seek to get the assets transferred to them or seek to sell to satisfy claims against the estate by selling the house which is an asset if the estate.

Hubs does not need to do anything. He does not need to pay taxes, or have the yard cut, or keep utilities on. Unless he chooses to. If he didn’t open probate or didn’t let MERP know he was seeking exemptions or exclusions to MERP, he can let the place rot. It’s not his problem.

Im going to guess that if he is being hounded by someone from estate recovery, it’s that your state has a outside contractor for MERP. There are 2 big outfits & they seem to approach it like debt collectors do. Multiple letters and phone calls. Over & over. Relentless. The contracts seem to be done that they get a fee for administration and % of the recovery. I think GA uses HMS. Look at the letters, is it HMS?

If so, pls let us know. I’ll have suggestion if so on what to do.

Adding on to what Burnt said.

I have dealt with Medicaid after the fact. When Mom passed I did contact her caseworker to find out what Mom owed because the house was up for sale and I needed to know what was owed so I could get enough to satisfy the lean. He was able to get me a letter. Problem was, Medicaid was not quick with placing the lean on the house. The caseworker gave me the number of the Medicaid Dept in the State Capital that handles that. Local offices don't handle leans. I talked to a woman who sent me the info I needed to fill out. Once that was done I received a letter telling me the lean had been placed.

My Mom was only on Medicaid short of 3 months. She owed 6k. That meant I didn't need to sell Moms house at Market Value. As long as I sold it to cover the tax lean and Medicaid lean I was OK. Which is what happened.

As suggested you need to go thru a realtor. If Medicaid amount is larger than the Market value of the house, it must be sold at Market Value. You can't just sell for whatever you want.

Selling "as is" does not mean you can leave it filled with the guys junk. My reality contract said it had to be clean and broom swept. Depending on what Medicaid is owed, you need to get as much as you can for the house. Cleaning it out it will help sell it faster.

It does not matter how long it takes to sell. You just have to prove its been put on the Market. Medicaid will just need to see the contract.

How long was your MIL in the nursing home and for how long did your husband pay her nursing home bill in cash? I mean writing a check every month that came out of a bank account to pay for her stay.
If your MIL was in fact receiving Medicaid and they were paying for her in the nursing home, she will have had a caseworker. Her caseworker is the person your husband has to communicate with.
This is important because it could be that Medicaid is not the one who is actually harassing your husband and it's the nursing home your MIL was in who is looking for more money. Speak to the person who was MIL's Medicaid caseworker.
If it turns out that Medicaid did pay for MIL's nursing home bill, they will be obligated to let your husband know the exact amount that is owed back to them.
Call a realtor and have them list the house for sale. "Market Value" is the worth of the house in the condition it's currently in. No one is obligated to renovate, make improvements, or even clean out the guy's stuff that's been sitting there for a year. All your husband is responsible for is having the place listed for sale.
Please don't let these people intimidate you or your husband because they're really just blowing smoke out of their a$$es.
Have the house listed for sale by a realtor, and your part is done.

Medicaid nor NHs take houses. Houses are an exempt asset. Still owned by the person on Medicaid. If your husband was POA for his Mom, he could have sold the house for Market Value and put the proceeds in an acct for her care. That house is probably still Moms. The deed was probably never transferred because thats not what Medicaid does.

When Mom went on Medicaid the house became an exempt asset. It was still her house. Since it wasn't sold before her death, now she has passed it becomes an asset that Medicaid can recoup some or all of the money they put out on for her care. Medicaid puts a lean on the house, its the family that has to sell the house so the lean is satisfied. It has to be sold at market value.

Because of your husbands health problems and you not directly related, you should consult with a lawyer on how to go about this. Was there a Will? Was the house left to your husband? Or did MIL pass without a Will. All that has to be established. The house is part if MILs estate. You may need to Probate so you can sell the house. Were taxes paid, if not, thats another lean. I suggest you go to your Township tax office and find out what leans are on the home. Maybe taxes are over and above what you can get for the house. I think a property tax lean overrides Medicaid. The County gets their money first.

So sorry you are going thru this but you received a lot of misinformation. Who filled out Moms application for Medicaid?
All you need to do is prove to Medicaid the house is up for sale. When sold, the leans will be satisfied at closing. Thats where your husbands responsibility stops. Medicaid gets what Medicaid gets. Family is not responsible for a Medicaid debt. They cannot go after family. Medicaid is obligated try and collect. If Mom had no house, then you would just prove she had no money at her death.

Her Personal needs acct and any money left from the spend down is part of Moms estate. Don't let the NH tell you otherwise. PNAs are overseen by Social Sevices.

Hire someone to empty the house. After a year, all the stuff inside 'belongs' to you. Renters who take off, for whatever reason, have a month or two to get their junk out of a house, then it belongs to the owner. You can do what you want with the junk, you've already essentially 'stored it' long past what the law requires.

Then sell the house through a reputable realtor who knows what they are doing.

I don't know if Medicaid will take a house that's full of someone else's crap.

I'd be on the phone with someone who knows the biz. not sitting and waiting for something to happen. (It already DID).

Ditch the 'friend' who sounds shady and unreliable. You shouldn't expect a dime out of this place. Just to have it gone would be a blessing, right?

As long as you do nothing---things actually deteriorate and your situation gets worse.