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Who are you caring for?
Which best describes their mobility?
How well are they maintaining their hygiene?
How are they managing their medications?
Does their living environment pose any safety concerns?
Fall risks, spoiled food, or other threats to wellbeing
Are they experiencing any memory loss?
Which best describes your loved one's social life?
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By proceeding, I agree that I understand the following disclosures:
I. How We Work in Washington. Based on your preferences, we provide you with information about one or more of our contracted senior living providers ("Participating Communities") and provide your Senior Living Care Information to Participating Communities. The Participating Communities may contact you directly regarding their services. APFM does not endorse or recommend any provider. It is your sole responsibility to select the appropriate care for yourself or your loved one. We work with both you and the Participating Communities in your search. We do not permit our Advisors to have an ownership interest in Participating Communities.
II. How We Are Paid. We do not charge you any fee – we are paid by the Participating Communities. Some Participating Communities pay us a percentage of the first month's standard rate for the rent and care services you select. We invoice these fees after the senior moves in.
III. When We Tour. APFM tours certain Participating Communities in Washington (typically more in metropolitan areas than in rural areas.) During the 12 month period prior to December 31, 2017, we toured 86.2% of Participating Communities with capacity for 20 or more residents.
IV. No Obligation or Commitment. You have no obligation to use or to continue to use our services. Because you pay no fee to us, you will never need to ask for a refund.
V. Complaints. Please contact our Family Feedback Line at (866) 584-7340 or ConsumerFeedback@aplaceformom.com to report any complaint. Consumers have many avenues to address a dispute with any referral service company, including the right to file a complaint with the Attorney General's office at: Consumer Protection Division, 800 5th Avenue, Ste. 2000, Seattle, 98104 or 800-551-4636.
VI. No Waiver of Your Rights. APFM does not (and may not) require or even ask consumers seeking senior housing or care services in Washington State to sign waivers of liability for losses of personal property or injury or to sign waivers of any rights established under law.I agree that: A.I authorize A Place For Mom ("APFM") to collect certain personal and contact detail information, as well as relevant health care information about me or from me about the senior family member or relative I am assisting ("Senior Living Care Information"). B.APFM may provide information to me electronically. My electronic signature on agreements and documents has the same effect as if I signed them in ink. C.APFM may send all communications to me electronically via e-mail or by access to an APFM web site. D.If I want a paper copy, I can print a copy of the Disclosures or download the Disclosures for my records. E.This E-Sign Acknowledgement and Authorization applies to these Disclosures and all future Disclosures related to APFM's services, unless I revoke my authorization. You may revoke this authorization in writing at any time (except where we have already disclosed information before receiving your revocation.) This authorization will expire after one year. F.You consent to APFM's reaching out to you using a phone system than can auto-dial numbers (we miss rotary phones, too!), but this consent is not required to use our service.
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Mostly Independent
Your loved one may not require home care or assisted living services at this time. However, continue to monitor their condition for changes and consider occasional in-home care services for help as needed.
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Are they on as coowners. Or did she hand the house over to him entirely. If he is the only owner than you have no problem. Look back is five years. Now if coowners, not sure how that will work.
How the property is registered at the courthouse will be the biggest determining factor as to what can happen. So how does the tax assessor bill read? His name only? Her name? Both name with an AND or an OR between the names? If there is a homestead exemption on it, how does it read?
For all those years of caregiving, did/do you & hubs live with your mil? Or do you & hubs have your own home? Did hubs have another job during this period of time?
Property has costs, how have these been paid? 50/50? All by mil? You & hubs? If MIL goes into a facility, her monthly income is a required copay by Medicaid, so can you easily afford all property costs from now till beyond her death if need be? Is there a mortgage (!horrors!) on the property?
I’m guessing that your thinking that mil is at the point of needing to go into a NH. I would suggest that you do NOT apply for Medicaid until you get a firm idea of the property situation cause anything filed or any paperwork drawn up must be done before Medicaid application is ever submitted.
Wow, thank you for your answers. Tax Bill is "and", son and I have paid for all expenses since 2004. No mortgage on home. Hubs did have another job all these years. He has been in the home and taking care of her since then.
So I’m guessing that you & hubs have realized that caregiving for her in her home has gotten to the point where she is needing a higher level of care and that on her own she doesn’t have enough funds to private pay for very long. And then add in that you have spent a tidy sum to cover her living costs. You trying to figure out how everything can equitably be figured out if Medicaid is applied for, that’s it, right?
Please keep in mind that each state runs its Medicaid programs uniquely. So what someone did in TX for their mom will be different than for a parent in CA. But for all states they will have to be “at need” BOTH medically & financially for the Medicaid program she’s applying for. Before you get too deep into finances, remember that for LTC NH, she must show that she needs skilled nursing care. That may not be easy to be determined if she’s living at home and does not have the fat medical chart that an elder hospitalized then discharged to NH rehab will have. Most states do not cover AL or if they do it’s via a waiver program which may not be easily accessed as either there’s a long waiting list to get a spot which living at home or the AL all seem to require a year or 2 of private pay before Medicaid. Financial are what most think about regarding Medicaid but she has to clearly show “at need” medically.
IMHO you will eventually need to have mom work with an elder law atty if hubs will be seeking the caregiver exemption to MERP / Estate Recovery to acquire mom’s 50% ownership of the house. He would need to be a full time caregiver usually 2 years prior to her entering a NH AND the care kept her from entering a NH & onto Medicaid earlier. So a MD or SW letter attesting to this will likely be needed. Just how much detail is something to discuss with the atty. To me, it’s better to try to get exemption in tandem with her Medicaid application as doing it possibly several years later could be difficult. The atty shepherds both items.
If caregiver exemption cannot work and you should want to buy her 50%, it needs to be FMV. FMV usually tax assessor annual value. But if assessor figure is whack, get it appraised. Not a figure from a Realtor, but a licensed, registered appraiser that places their seal on it. It’s a legal document that can be used for FMV. Some have posted that they used Realtor figure. But if the house has decades of delayed maintenance, the appraisal will give a more accurate figure.
Medicaid tends to view whatever we do or spend on our parents as done out of a sense of familial duty without expectation of reimbursement. You’d need some type of memo of understanding or promissory note done in advance to even start to try to get around this.
In your follow up, you mentioned that son has taken care of mom for several years. Medicaid has a caregiver exception that protects the rights of adult children who live in the home and provide two years or more of home care for a parent who would otherwise have needed care in a facility. This exception takes effect upon the elder's admission to a facility.
You also mentioned that an ownership interest was transferred many years ago, well beyond Medicaid's 5 year look back period for disqualifying transfers.
So there may be many ways for your elder to qualify for Medicaid home care benefits now, and for Medicaid to cover costs in a facility if needed in the future.
Talking with an elder law attorney in your state now can open up all the options for your family.
By proceeding, I agree that I understand the following disclosures:
I. How We Work in Washington.
Based on your preferences, we provide you with information about one or more of our contracted senior living providers ("Participating Communities") and provide your Senior Living Care Information to Participating Communities. The Participating Communities may contact you directly regarding their services.
APFM does not endorse or recommend any provider. It is your sole responsibility to select the appropriate care for yourself or your loved one. We work with both you and the Participating Communities in your search. We do not permit our Advisors to have an ownership interest in Participating Communities.
II. How We Are Paid.
We do not charge you any fee – we are paid by the Participating Communities. Some Participating Communities pay us a percentage of the first month's standard rate for the rent and care services you select. We invoice these fees after the senior moves in.
III. When We Tour.
APFM tours certain Participating Communities in Washington (typically more in metropolitan areas than in rural areas.) During the 12 month period prior to December 31, 2017, we toured 86.2% of Participating Communities with capacity for 20 or more residents.
IV. No Obligation or Commitment.
You have no obligation to use or to continue to use our services. Because you pay no fee to us, you will never need to ask for a refund.
V. Complaints.
Please contact our Family Feedback Line at (866) 584-7340 or ConsumerFeedback@aplaceformom.com to report any complaint. Consumers have many avenues to address a dispute with any referral service company, including the right to file a complaint with the Attorney General's office at: Consumer Protection Division, 800 5th Avenue, Ste. 2000, Seattle, 98104 or 800-551-4636.
VI. No Waiver of Your Rights.
APFM does not (and may not) require or even ask consumers seeking senior housing or care services in Washington State to sign waivers of liability for losses of personal property or injury or to sign waivers of any rights established under law.
I agree that:
A.
I authorize A Place For Mom ("APFM") to collect certain personal and contact detail information, as well as relevant health care information about me or from me about the senior family member or relative I am assisting ("Senior Living Care Information").
B.
APFM may provide information to me electronically. My electronic signature on agreements and documents has the same effect as if I signed them in ink.
C.
APFM may send all communications to me electronically via e-mail or by access to an APFM web site.
D.
If I want a paper copy, I can print a copy of the Disclosures or download the Disclosures for my records.
E.
This E-Sign Acknowledgement and Authorization applies to these Disclosures and all future Disclosures related to APFM's services, unless I revoke my authorization. You may revoke this authorization in writing at any time (except where we have already disclosed information before receiving your revocation.) This authorization will expire after one year.
F.
You consent to APFM's reaching out to you using a phone system than can auto-dial numbers (we miss rotary phones, too!), but this consent is not required to use our service.
So how does the tax assessor bill read? His name only? Her name? Both name with an AND or an OR between the names?
If there is a homestead exemption on it, how does it read?
For all those years of caregiving, did/do you & hubs live with your mil?
Or do you & hubs have your own home?
Did hubs have another job during this period of time?
Property has costs, how have these been paid? 50/50? All by mil? You & hubs?
If MIL goes into a facility, her monthly income is a required copay by Medicaid, so can you easily afford all property costs from now till beyond her death if need be?
Is there a mortgage (!horrors!) on the property?
I’m guessing that your thinking that mil is at the point of needing to go into a NH. I would suggest that you do NOT apply for Medicaid until you get a firm idea of the property situation cause anything filed or any paperwork drawn up must be done before Medicaid application is ever submitted.
Please keep in mind that each state runs its Medicaid programs uniquely. So what someone did in TX for their mom will be different than for a parent in CA. But for all states they will have to be “at need” BOTH medically & financially for the Medicaid program she’s applying for. Before you get too deep into finances, remember that for LTC NH, she must show that she needs skilled nursing care. That may not be easy to be determined if she’s living at home and does not have the fat medical chart that an elder hospitalized then discharged to NH rehab will have. Most states do not cover AL or if they do it’s via a waiver program which may not be easily accessed as either there’s a long waiting list to get a spot which living at home or the AL all seem to require a year or 2 of private pay before Medicaid. Financial are what most think about regarding Medicaid but she has to clearly show “at need” medically.
IMHO you will eventually need to have mom work with an elder law atty if hubs will be seeking the caregiver exemption to MERP / Estate Recovery to acquire mom’s 50% ownership of the house. He would need to be a full time caregiver usually 2 years prior to her entering a NH AND the care kept her from entering a NH & onto Medicaid earlier. So a MD or SW letter attesting to this will likely be needed. Just how much detail is something to discuss with the atty. To me, it’s better to try to get exemption in tandem with her Medicaid application as doing it possibly several years later could be difficult. The atty shepherds both items.
If caregiver exemption cannot work and you should want to buy her 50%, it needs to be FMV. FMV usually tax assessor annual value. But if assessor figure is whack, get it appraised. Not a figure from a Realtor, but a licensed, registered appraiser that places their seal on it. It’s a legal document that can be used for FMV. Some have posted that they used Realtor figure. But if the house has decades of delayed maintenance, the appraisal will give a more accurate figure.
Medicaid tends to view whatever we do or spend on our parents as done out of a sense of familial duty without expectation of reimbursement. You’d need some type of memo of understanding or promissory note done in advance to even start to try to get around this.
You also mentioned that an ownership interest was transferred many years ago, well beyond Medicaid's 5 year look back period for disqualifying transfers.
So there may be many ways for your elder to qualify for Medicaid home care benefits now, and for Medicaid to cover costs in a facility if needed in the future.
Talking with an elder law attorney in your state now can open up all the options for your family.