Currently mother is rehabbin in a skilled nursing facility from a broken hip - prior she was in a memory care facility that was out-of-pocket; I was told that she also requires one-to-one sitter due to her dementia that I have to pay for. Her insurance ran out last week and will not cover her anymore. Her medical costs is taking a huge financial toll on me. I love my mother dearly but at this rate I was going to be wiped out soon. MediCaid/Medical won't cover her because my parents still have a home that my father lives in. They do not have life insurance. I am not sure what to do next; I've been successful in my field but it seems like my life savings will be used up soon at this rate. My family has always been hard working; it hurts so much to see my mother this way and it is just cruel that it appears my life seems to be over as well; is there anything we can do
but dealing with exactly what you're talking about - most of the homes in the area are newer so no way are they good comps, just so happens that right now (unless - I need to check - it's sold) one of the best for him is for sale - there have been a few things the same - had to been - like each has had a new heating system put in - why? because the ones they had were so old they finally quit and new flooring has been put in the one for sale - dad's bathrooms have been renovated - why? because both commodes started leaking and ruined them - the one to the bedroom so bad - long story but nobody went in there for a year after he passed away in there - that ruined closet and 1/2 the bedroom requiring new subfloor having to be put in, new hardwood for whole house bought but feel that's overkill for his house and comps - other house just got laminate but this has already been bought now and can't be returned - long story - so...sell? replace with laminate? let go as is - what to do.....but thankfully not having, was able to skirt the whole Medicaid/nh issue for us, just dealing with the aftermath now
But if they need Medicaid, it suddenly becomes very critically important. Cause if too high, medicaid makes them ineligible (like for TX it's 545k assessor value); or if its sold to family for under value, family gets a transfer penalty for gifting inquiry or blowback from meddling family as to terms of sale; or if your dealing with MERP, it's valid appraised worth is critically important to establish whether or not estate recovery is cost effective and if so to set benchmark $ of what the recoverabke estate asset is that claims or leins are to be settled from.
Personally I'd suggest get the inspection first. If there's foundation issues, then a residential engineers report - these can be hard to get as most do commercial property. Then both are given to appraiser to use if need be. Fees vary by sq footage. If there farm or ranch land, that's a separate document.
My suggestion is:
first find out from medicaid IF your dad as the CS is still living in the house IF the value of the house should not be counted at all for the Medicaid application. You know moms application could be going through the system as an individual application so house value is counted.
If there has been no mention or paperwork or set aside of moms income to go for dad as his CSRA or MMNA, then her application is being processed "individual" application. CSRA -community spouse resource allowance; MMNA mininumim monthly maintenance allowance - states call it one of these names. I think of them as kinda like alimony for the non NH spouse. Dad should get it from moms income. Amounts vary by state, like TX has MMNA at $ 2,900 mo, so in theory a NH spouse with 3k income could only have to do a copay of $ 100 mo to Nh with spouse getting $ 2,900 MMNA.
Also the house value coukd be whack. If the ax assessor value is totally not realistic as there are decads of delayed repairs; it's not comparable be to houses being sold in your area, etc, then you go and get an appraisal done. Appraiser needs to be licensed and registered however it's legal for your state. If there's a lot of issues with the house, then perhaps get it inspected first (again registered & licensed) and the inspection report is provided to the appraiser for them to do a very through appraisal on the property. The new appraisal could show property to be below tax assessor & could be low enough to be under the medicaid threshold for property value as well.
Also you file a challenge to tax assessor with the appraisers report whenever your county sends out the proposed tax bill for this year. It is not unusual for old run down unrenovated homes to have only their land value plus 10/20% improvement value for thier assessor value. But you have to provide legal documentation to get this done.
The real question is, is she making progress? Or does she need long term cusodial care now? Does the facility she's in accept Medi-cal?