Yankeetalker Asked May 2017
My neighbor wants to sell her home. If she goes into a nursing home within the year, will she get in trouble for selling it?
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It needs a lot of work done to it so she won't get that much.
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Do you know if your neighbor is applying for Medicaid [different from Medicare], as Medicaid will follow the paper trail. As long as the neighbor spends the equity on herself and doesn't hand out "gifts" of money to others, she should be ok.
Your neighbor can sell the house "as is". That's what I did with my Dad's house, as in my area "flippers" were buying up fixer-uppers. But first I had a licensed Appraiser give me a price on the house, so when I listed the house I had a ballpark figure. It sold quickly, the buyer was happy my Dad accepted the price, and Dad was happy with what he got, so it was a win-win situation.
One suggestion, the house should be as clean as possible... it could look 1950's inside but if it is super clean and as bright as possible [taking down heavy drapes] does make a difference.
Oh, how is your neighbor's memory? Is she still very sharp or forgetful? Does anyone have a Power of Attorney for her to help her with this sale?
If so, the sale price & where the $ from the sale went to will definitely be an issue if the neighbor should need to apply for medicaid at any point from the date of the sale to 5 full years future.
Property value is easily found by looking at tax assessor public records.
Say its 100k assessor value but sold to you for 60k. Not a listed on market, MLS sale with a Realtor. But a private sale to you. It would NOT be considered an "arms length" sale. Unless there is an independent appraisal done by the seller before the sale that has the property coming in at 60k, Medicaid could look upon the 60k sale of a 100k house as doing a 40k "gifting" which causes a 40k transfer penalty & will make her ineligible for Medicaid till resolved. Now she will have 60k to use as a spend down to pay the NH. But with NH running 5k - 15k a month, that 60k will be spent within a year or less. So when she eventually applies for medicaid, the property sale will surface. Remember Medicaid does a minimum 5 yr look back on finances starting the date of the medicaid application.
Transfer penalty medicaid inquiry will happen. And someone within her family will need a way to resolve the gifting penalty so she can qualify. They aren't likely to want to private pay the NH to get past the penalty but will look to find someone other than their elderly mom to be at fault in this mess. And the easiest way would be to have APS &/or police charge you with some sort of action against a vulnerable or disabled adult. If this is alot of $, could be a felony. It will not be pretty. The police report is needed to show $ was stolen (by you), so it is not "gifting".
If you buy it, it must be bought at FMV. If elderly neighbor then goes and squanders the $, it's not your problem. But if you buy it undervalue, it more than likely will come back to haunt you.
So where is her family or DPOA in all this? They need to be in the loop on all this with the sale being all aboveboard, transparent & FMV imho.
Find out what the services you provide would cost if she were to pay an agency to send someone to do them. Then sit down with her, show her the results of your research. Offer to do these things for that amount or offer her a "friend discount" if you are so inclined. But make it clear that these services cost money. If you are to continue as her paid caregiver, have a written agreement spelling out what you do and what she pays. This will protect her from it looking like she has been giving you gifts if she needs to apply for Medicaid in the future.
By all means, she needs to pay her own way! To you or to an agency. But she can't go on assuming all these services just materialize when she needs them, with no cost to her.
Stop sharing your extras. If she has plenty of money and you don't it is silly to provide her eggs and toilet paper. Add these things to a list and shop with her or shop for her ... but with her money.
It may be that if she is really not competent or cognitive to do things legally, then you will have to seek guardianship or conservatorship of her if you decide you want to stay involved. This site has a whole section on Guardainships. Make a pot of coffee or adult beverage and read through the many many Q&A's on G/C's. I'd be concerned about the "not having any family". Like CWillie wrote, family will crawl out if there's $.
? for you, the 2 incidents of her being fleeced for 10K & 17K, do you know with certainty that this happened? Absolutely sure it happened? I'd be concerned that your neighbor has made this up or exaggerated the event. If so, I shudder to think what stories she has said about what you have done. Dementia means living with false beliefs and they can appear totally believable. Really meet with an atty if not for her then to do whatever to protect yourself just in case she tells false beliefs about you.
You need to ask about the proper method for reimbursement for what you've spent and, going forward, payment for the services you are providing.