I've been away for a few months. We were having trouble figuring out my mom's car, it's a 1997 Buick Skylark with over 100,000 miles. I have no idea when my mom first applied for Medicaid or why. I'm not even sure who helped her, but it seems she's had problems with her mind for years, I just didn't know about the dementia until I moved in with her.
The car was held up because I couldn't find the title, but now it have it titled in my name as that is what the lawyer advised me to do. The car previously had the check engine light on and now has a misfire. Way back they put the value of the car at $4,000. I'm not sure but I think they just looked at the bluebook and guessed. The value was later reduced to $2,500. Somehow I need to convince Medicaid Estate Recovery that it's only worth junk value, there's no way I'd be able to sell it for more.
Her checking account had a POD (Payable on Death), so the beneficiary was able to draw out the money (Less than $4,000) without the will. My mom left me the house in a Life Estate back in 2008 which was deeded over to my name back in October. The lawyer didn't want to use the will, so there is no executor. She prepaid her funeral back in 2008 after my dad passed away, so there wasn't much for bills.
I didn't know about the legal stuff she did until I had stayed with her for almost a year. The bank box came due and she wanted me to see what was in it. When we tried to get her Medicaid Waiver for home care we learned she had been Medicaid eligible for a number of years.
The lawyer tells me we are finished now that I have the title to the car. There is nothing more to distribute and nobody has come to claim anything from the house. I wanted somebody else to claim the car, but nobody wanted to mess with it so it was stuck since it's parked in the driveway.
If your lawyer says it over than its over. You have the title so sell the car as is or fix it up. I think I remember you getting the Medicaid recovery letter so I guess u told them there was no assets. Since u legally own the house, the bank acct had a beneficiary and the car is not worth that much... you are DONE! The lawyer says you are DONE! Be happy its all over. No one can come after u for Moms debts. You are her son and you are entitled to what is left. You can now let go and enjoy life. Hopefully you are working if not get a job you'll enjoy. Sell the house and move. You can now enjoy life.
No need to hire another lawyer. I think u have seen enough if I remember correctly. Again, your done. 😊
They said they can recover from assets that pass outside probate so somebody will have to repay the $3,000 from my mom's bank account. They can still demand the value of the car, whatever they determine the value to be. I don't know how much protection I get from the Life Estate, we will only know after we receive a response from MERP.
I don't think the lawyer is done, I think he just didn't want to do anything.
If you didn't even have to file probate then there IS no estate.
You can show the last statement on the account (whatever it was) and show the funeral expense, whatever THAT was. The car is taken care of now that the dealer says he will give you that number, but the truth is that the car is titled in your name. It's yours and it is worth very little.
Did your attorney not explain any of this to you.
From what I can see your attorney is telling you THERE IS NO ESTATE. The deed was done long ago.
My only fear here is for YOU. I am afraid you are going to send off a whole mess of stuff and they are going to thing that you owe them money for that house. I would go back to this attorney and sit down and CALMLY say you are not understanding this.
I am afraid all the advice from us is just going to create a stew with more ingredients.
I sure do wish you luck.
Basically I believe that this is a case where there is no estate and that's what you tell them. If there were an estate then you would have HAD TO FILE PROBATE.
So sorry.
I know what it is to worry these things to death and be fearful you have the wrong answer. I once spent 3/4 a year with one question for the IRS and mail constantly about "In 6 months from this date we will send an answer" until finally they stopped sending the blamed thing. It can just be nuts out here and if you try the phone you are there the whole day.
What happens if I wasn't supposed to transfer the house or car to my name? Could I have saved the money in my mom's bank account for MERP?
It seems like I have about a 100% chance of answering something wrong.
The house passed to you outside of probate, so it’s not a recoverable asset of her Estate. The term life insurance had a beneficiary so it too passed outside of probate, so not recoverable asset.
Take photos of the car, contact a charity to come & get the car and send the photos and the tax deduction that the charity gives you, and certify mail with a return receipt card to whomever you are getting notices from. If it’s HMS as the outside contractor for your states MERP system, they seem to churn letters out regularly and often whether or not you send in a response. Ideally the attorney who did you late mom’s paperwork would send them a letter that the deceaseds Assets are limited to a single 1997 vehicle that does not run and a scrap value of $ xxxx (whatever the charitable “value” is).
If the atty considers his work done, (this is what I’m guessing is the situation…. He doesn’t want to spend any more of his time on this nor charge you for more atty fees), then imo you can do a certified letter with a return registered card to MERP. In the letter you state something like RE: estate of Anne Smith Jones, To Whom It May Concern: ASJ died on xxxxx leaving only a vehicle as a possible asset of her estate. Vehicle (you describe it as per its state registration info) is inoperable and has been donated to ZZZZ for charitable value of $****. No monetary payment received. There are no other assets of ASJ estate that require opening probate. As such this certified letter is your notification that I consider all matter relating to ASJ and to her Medicaid &/or it’s estate recovery system to be closed. TY for your attention to this.
You use USPS for certified and the RRR card mailing; abt $8.
Be sure to do the green return receipt card as that one gets a signature on it and mailed back to you. So you have - in your hands - verification that you have done all you can to satisfy estate recovery. Should you get yet another letter, you send them a xerox of the letter and xerox of the green RRR card. And yellow highlight the “consider matter closed”. Mail that one again certified and another return card. You’ve done your due diligence and twice, it’s over!
The money was claimed out of my mom's checking account by POD beneficiary. That is around $3,000 due to MERP, who is going to pay that?
I had to take the Life Estate paperwork myself over to the county Registrar of Deeds to have the house deeded over to me. I think we should have waited for a response from MERP, but it's what the lawyer told me to do.
I didn't want to claim the car, but nobody else wanted to mess with it and it was parked in the driveway. I had to fill out an affidavit. I just went to the DMV where we license our vehicles, took them my mom's title and death certificate and it's now my car.
What happens now if MERP demands money? They could demand what was in my mom's bank account and the value of her car? What if they demand the house be sold? I think the lawyer quit too soon.
In my state the money she was allowed in assets is her money and goes to her estate. So does the personal needs acct. I just pulled Moms recovery letter which was only one page. It asked what assets she had, I put 55k and her house was her only asset. Asked if there was a surviving spouse, no. Asked if there was a disabled child, no. Then it asked for my info as Executor and info of the lawyer handling the estate. I wrote a cover letter that Mom died penniless. Her house was the only asset, was up for sale at 55k and had been for 4 yrs with no offers made. A lien was put on the house.
Fill out the form that Moms only asset was the car that DMV says it is worth $500 and at this time does not run. (Its a 1997 car!) Do a cover letter saying that the car was her only asset and not in working order. The home she resided in before placement in a NH was put in your name in 2008 giving her the right to live there till her death. Enclosed find the paperwork. Do not mention the 3k. It was money she was allowed to keep. Let them come back and ask if any money was left in her acct. Then u show the 4k allowed with withdraws you made on Moms behalf. Also show it was POD and the beneficiaries info. If it has to be turned over to Medicaid, thats the beneficiaries problem IMO.
You are not the only person who does not understand this all. You do your best filling out the information. As I have said before, once you send the information its now in their ballpark. If they need more information, they will contact you. The worst that could happen is u need to sell the car and sell the house at market value. If you don't agree with the findings, then see ur lawyer again.
Again, you are thinking too much (a problem I have) and asking people questions that live in other states with different Medicaid recovery laws. Once I sent back the form with a cover letter, I was contacted a lien had been placed on the house. When the house was sold another letter saying the lien had been satisfied.
Fill out that form. That's the only way you are going to find out what is going to happen. They cannot saddle u with Moms debt personally. They can only try and recover from Mom.
Please come back and update us.
My mom deeded the house over to me in 2008 with a Warranty Deed while retaining a Life Estate interest for herself. When she took out the Life Estate is extremely important. The laws regarding Life Estates have changed, so if I did another Life Estate now, it would be different than what my mom did.
One thing the lawyer pointed out, I moved here to look after my mom and as such I currently live in the house with no other permanent address. The lawyer said if I transferred the house to my name and continued to live in it, it would make it less likely MERP would have any interest in going after the house.
The thing we don't know at this point is how much Medicaid paid for my mom's care. With the help of a friend, she applied for Medicaid years before she needed to but she's been Medicaid eligible for years. When I arrived, we started her on the Waiver program so we could get an agency to come help for a few hours a week and give me time out of the house. After a hospitalization the doctor sent my mom to the NH at the end of May and she passed away mid July. The NH wanted the deed to my mom's house for her NH Medicaid application, but I never did find her deed and she passed away before the Medicaid lookback was completed. Not sure why the wanted her deed, but they never did get it. The NH never did send my anything, just a sympathy card and a set of wind chimes, so I have no idea if Medicaid paid anything.
It may not be that much that Medicaid is owed since most of the money was spent on a few hours per week of home based services.
Make sure you have copies of everything u send. Send copies only of your personal paperwork. I have had where I was told paperwork was not sent. Since I had copied everything I sent recopied and sent them.
It does not matter what they felt the car was worth when they did Moms application, it was an error. You Moms car is probably not listed in the Kelly blue book anyway. I think you were told how to handle this in your other posts. You are over thinking this.
Your lawyer says you are DONE.
1. Bank Account
2, Cash
3. Reasonable funeral expenses
4. Vehicle
5. Home
6. Life Estate
I was told they definitely will come after the bank account, any cash that's reported and the vehicle. Why would anyone report cash?
I'm not sure if I give them the tax value of the house or Life Estate????? I'm thinking just send them a copy of the papers and let them figure it out.
The Chevy dealer told me if I could haul the car over there, he could give me something that shows the car's value and an estimate for the repairs.
Life Estates are confusing because old Life Estates like what my mom had are supposed to be grandfathered where if I put something in a Life Estate today, the rules would be completely different.
I'm waiting for MERP to tell me how much I'm required to sell the car for. If they determine the car is worth $2,500, then that's how much somebody has to pay me for it. I'm not paying $2,000 out of my own pocket for a $500 car.
However, since Medicaid is a state run program, it would be best to get in touch with your local Medicaid office just to be sure. Write down names, dates and times you talk to people - you may not need it, but just in case.)
https://dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/Medicaid-Estate-Recovery.aspx
Again, George, you are thinking too much. The lawyer says your done, your done. Sell the house, move away, leave no forwarding address. I don't think Medicaid will come after a car thats as old as Moms. If they come after anyone for Moms acct it would be the beneficiary and your not that person, right?
For now, let it go. Worry about it when a recovery letter is sent. Your just throwing good money after bad on lawyers.
So NO you do not need another lawyer.😊
Go live ur life.
She is not clear on what to answer. House deeded to her many years ago. So to my mind, hers. So no home. What isn't clear to me is saying there are accounts Mom had and had POD on. In that case account now belongs to the POD, not Mom and not Mom's estate. The car is an old wreck as I understand, likely no value. An attorney told her this I think but she is still worrying it and not understanding. I would return to that same attorney to get questions answered. I am not clear on what the problem is here either. The car was deeded to her, so not Mom's. I am thinking only the attorney can answer.
Mom had no money when she died over her assets allowed. Medicaid cannot recoup from what isn't there. In my opinion all she has is the car. Thats all you need to put down.
Seems your paperwork asks a lot more than mine. You have never really answered my question if the house was listed on the original application? If it wasn't, no problem. If it was don't list it now. Send a letter and proof the house is yours and an error was made in listing it. Believe me, if you make an error they will question it. You are a lay person. I don't think they will expect u to know everything. Maybe you should call who sent you the letter and talk to them. Don't say too much. Act like u don't know anything.
Really, you are thinking too much. Medicaid doesn't expect a recipient to have any assets after death. Thats why they were on Medicaid. But they have to try and recoup. If my Mom hadn't had her house, all she would have had was the $186in assets from the 2k she was allowed. Oh, and the 195 she had in her PNA at the home. Neither of which Medicaid can recover from.