Over 5 years ago, my mother added my name to the deed so that I would be grand-fathered on the tax rate. She's now 89 years old and has been living with me permanently for the past year. I'm hoping to care for her, but if she needs skilled care in the future, and has to go to a NH, will I be required to sell her house? Will this asset be considered hers alone even though I'm on the deed?
MiddleKid is really spot-on in this.
As Middle said, you really need to see an attorney and not just for the Medicaid aspect. How the deed was done will be concern. If she did it as a Quit Claim...there are issues of guarantee of transfer of ownership that can be a problem. I'm assuming what whatever was done was properly filed at the assessors office and so the annual tax statement shows both your names on the tax bill. You need to take a copy of the filed paperwork, the original warranty deed on the house and all other legal documents of mom's - like her will - to the initial meeting with the attorney. You also want to do in advance a "face" sheet on mom that lists all her data...DOB, marriages, names of spouse(s), full names of all children and DOB. This will save $.
They do not have to sell their home to apply for Medicaid - the home is an exempt asset. But keeping the home will mean that all the costs on the home will have to be assumed by family for the rest of mom's life. Then upon mom's death family can file exemptions for MERP. Medicaid Estate Recovery Program in which the state is required to look into placing a claim or a lein on the assets (their home) after death to recover some of the costs spent on her care. MERP varies due to state laws on death and estates. The house is going to be totally sticky to deal with as things are going to have to be divvied out as to % ownership and you are going to have to provide documentation for that in detail in order to get the exemptions. Really see an attorney and take all the documentation you can to the meeting. Good luck.
From my experience, being on the deed with my mom was absolutely THE worst mistake I ever made in my life and I've made some doozies. I'm still "paying" for this disastrous error with no end in sight. I rue the day I agreed to it.