"Half-a-Loaf" Medicaid Planning

by Gabriel Heiser

Question:

My inlaws are in a nursing home and did not sign the
house over to my husband before they went in. They are wanting to sign it over to him but are being told they can be kicked out of the nursing home if they do. How can my husband and inlaws get this taken care of without risking their care?

Answer:

In most cases, if a person on Medicaid transfer their house to a child this will cause the imposition of a very long penalty period (i.e., period of months or years when Medicaid will NOT cover the nursing home bills of the parent). Accordingly, they are advised retain the house and see if there are exceptions that will allow them to transfer the house without penalty, or, if that is not possible, sell the house and do “half-a-loaf” Medicaid planning. This type of planning will at least save a good portion of the house proceeds from having to be spent on nursing home care.

Since this is a complicated topic, I suggest you review the chapters in my book that discuss this, along with a number of helpful examples.