My mom is in a privte-pay AL facility and we have been spending down her investments to pay for her rent each month. None of this is paid for by Medicare. She will run out of money in about 7 months so we are planning to sell her house. My neighbor told me not to sell her house because it will somehow affect her Medicare (she has been given this advice by an attorney.) Does this make sense to any of you?
If you sell the house, how many more months will your mother be able to afford at the ALF?
Does the AL facility accept Medicaid from residents who have been private pay for a certain length of time? Or will Mother have to move when her money runs out? (Many care centers that do not accept Medicaid for new residents do from residents who have been private pay for a certain length of time, such as 3 years. Find out what the policy is where Mom lives.)
Is the house sitting empty now?
I think you need to do what Mom's neighbor did ... see an attorney who specialized in Elder Law and who can advice you on the options available.
We had to keep my FIL at home over four years longer than we intended just because of the value of the land he deeded to each family THREE YEARS PREVIOUSLY that still counted toward his assets as of the date of the nursing home application. PLEASE see an Elderlaw attorney before you do anything.
Will Mother be able to stay at this ALF as the dementia progresses? Do they have a memory care unit? If she needs increasing levels of care, will the cost rise, too?
Your mother is very lucky to be able to pay her own way through a very long life! (And I know that lots more is involved besides luck.) She is also lucky to have caring daughters looking after her best interests.
Selling the house makes sense to me, but I'd certainly want some Elder Law guidance.
My MIL has been in a nursing home for several years, as forced by my BIL. He sold off all her stuff and house after my FIL passed away. She fell - 2x - and broke her hip. This was 3 years ago. I think he thought she would die soon, which she did not. She and my deceased FIL deeded their home with joint ownership between my MIL, FIL, BIL and my husband about twenty years ago. I do not think they got a lawyer to advise them. The house sold for about $90,000. We paid capital gains on it as did my BIL. My MIL is still alive in a horrible place and mentally well, although physically struggling. It has been very difficult to see her be depressed in such a bad environment, but she have my BIL full rights to put her there. I can't see how anybody won here. Seems to me keeping the house and getting her into a place that can deal with her issues protects everybody. It also gives her some hope as long as she knows the family home is still intact.
My mom is in a NH, on Medicaid, and still has her empty home.For us it works, the decision was really doing a financial pro/con with her attorney a few years back and long discussions with a couple of Realtors. Her house is a modest but vintage home in a historic district with many much more expensive homes around it. It has foundation issues, so no FHA, would have to be cash or conventional. There are no real comps to draw from as the house is kinda unique. The historic part is a big issue as any real renovation that affects the exterior has to get a certificate of appropriateness. The realtors felt it would be a long time on market and the costs to get it ready (staging, some painting, etc) and have it looking tip-tip 24/7 for an extended period would cost quite a bit & $ was better spent on her being in IL & doing spend down on dental and other health related needs. Now her gerontology group docs are affiliated with NH's who take Medicaid so we knew that we could probably get her into those NH when she needed a higher level of care beyond IL or AL. And that's what we did. I & another family member pay for all on the home and under my mom's state Medicaid MERP guidelines all expenses paid by family or others on the home, like taxes, insurance, maintenance, titles, etc are deducted from her MERP tally. Upon her death, we will let MERP know that we will file a claim against the estate for all expenses. My mom is in her 90's so probability wise, we should not have decades of her house expenses, so that was a factor.
What's great about having legal do this as it removes the emotion from all.
I'd really suggest you have a heart to heart talk with a couple of Realtors to find out what the likely scenario is for selling the house, what the comps are and days on market, what you need to do to do and spend to have it market ready, and what the seller may have to contribute to. If you're in a big foreclosure state, there is alot of competition out there. Not all Realtors are the same, I'd speak with 3 who actively close deals in your mom's zip code. Good luck.