She has medicare and a supplimental insurance and a $1200 check and some savings. The home is on my property, which she helped me pay for but is paid off in mine and my husbands name. She did give me dpoa but won't go to a lawyer with me. Can the trailer be taken from me if she's put in a home?
If an elder goes into a NH and qualifies for the Medicaid program to pay for their care, then upon their death, the State is required to attempt to recover or recoup the expenses paid for her care under Medicaid from her estate.This is called MERP. How each state does this and how aggressive they are really depends on how each state manages MERP (state employees or by contract) and how the states estate and probate laws are written.
MERP is done by the State placing a lien or claim on property (like the home or car). So in order to really sell or transfer the ownership of the property, the claim or lien has to be removed. You can't get a warranty deed or clear title if there is a lien. For something that has shared ownership, the state can only place a lien on the part that the elder owned. Trailers kinda have a low resale value, so the $ we're talking about here is probably too low for MERP to bother with imho. Remember it's probably the same amount of time to process a claim for 10K as for 100K and I know what I'd spend my time on. There is a form that MERP sends to the address MERP has on file for the elder other than the NH after death asking if there are any exemptions to MERP. On joint property, if you're income is low, then you would have a hardship in getting rid of the trailer and you let MERP know and they probably will send you a hardship release on the property so you can get a full legal and valid lien free ownership of the trailer. There are other exemptions under MERP too, like for spouses, caregivers, disabled children, etc.
TRAN$FER PENALTY ISSUE$:
But what you might want to go over, is when your mom gave you $ to pay for the land and how long ago. The lookback is 5 years, so the Medicaid program can go through 5 years of property and banking records. You sign off on the State's ability to do this by applying for Medicaid. So if the $ was sometime between now and July, 2007, you could face having to pay a "transfer penalty" for the $ or property mom gifted you (this means you are responsible for having to private pay for the NH for a period of time unless the $/property is returned).
MotelMillysuggestion - there is a problem with doing this - The same transfer penalty could be done if you do what motelmilly suggested. Property has to be recorded in order to be legal and eventually the transfer will surface and a penalty applied. What can happens is the elder qualifies for Medicaid based on the initial review of 3 - 6 months of financials. Elder moves into a NH. Then months later, the State finds out about the transfer and sends you and the NH a letter of ineligibility. You now have to private pay for the NH or the elder gets the dreaded "30 Day Notice". This is a total panic situation and you really don't want to have this happen. The states are really cracking down on eligibility as NH are so costly.
So go over your records to see when she gave you the $ for the land.