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HOW TO SAVE YOUR HOME FROM MEDI-CAL RECOVERY |
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After my previous article (which appeared in these pages last month) I was surprised to receive many telephone calls from people who did not realize their homes were going to be taken from them by the state as part of Medi-Cal Recovery. A large percentage of homeowners with an elderly person in a Nursing Home are subject to loss of their homes under existing Medi-Cal law. This means the state can literally take your home unless certain legal safeguards have been made in advance. The Medi-Cal Recovery program, which starts when the person who has been receiving assistance under Medi-Cal no longer requires such assistance, for example after death, allows the state to take any property or assets the family member had in order to “pay back” the assistance given. Therefore it is vital that homeowners be competently advised concerning the law on Medi-Cal Recovery to ensure their homes are safe from these procedures. (One uninformed senior learned this the hard way – more on his story below.) Recently, I attended a two-day seminar on Medi-Cal Recovery, organized by the California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR). This group is a wonderful non-profit organization which defends the elderly and acts as Watchdog over the enactment of new rules and regulations concerning seniors and nursing home residents. You can check their website at www.canhr.org. The main focus of the seminar was the new Medi-Cal rules on recovery procedures. The seminar quickly became a heated debate between attorneys and some representatives of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHS) from whom we learned that restrictions are about to be placed upon the transfer of ownership of a home when the situation involves a family member requiring Medi-Cal assistance in covering the cost of nursing home care. Exactly how the laws will change is not yet totally clear but it is certain that there are going to be controls placed upon transfer of ownership which will make it even easier for the state to take your homes. The only good news out of this seminar was that these revised rules, once implemented, will probably not be retroactive. Therefore, if you act fast, there is still a little time to safeguard your home. I had a client who came to my office with just such a situation. His deceased wife had been on Medi-Cal. Together, they had a typical A-B trust which placed their home and assets jointly in their names. He wanted to transfer ownership of the home and property to their son and change the estate plan. However, he had never removed his wife’s name from the home/property title when she was in the nursing home. Nor had anyone ever informed him that there was such a thing as Medi-Cal Recovery against the property of the person receiving Medi-Cal benefits upon that person’s death. Nor had he been told that his own part-ownership was no stop to the state simply taking his home. But those points were only the beginning of his woes. In the existing trust that had been established between the couple, there were provisions that required the division of the assets into two trusts (the famous A-B trust) on a 50-50 basis. The problem is that the equal share of the deceased spouse was to go into a separate trust and that portion could not be changed. It became irrevocable upon her death. The husband was limited to transferring only his own share (half) of their assets while the other half went to the state under the Medi-Cal Recovery laws. Now you may believe that your home and assets are covered by any existing trusts or estate plans you may already have made. But the Medi-Cal laws are about to change and any actions you have taken may become inadequate to save your home in a few weeks or months. It is such a small thing to check while you still have the opportunity. And if you have made no such provisions, do not wait until it is too late. Get this nailed down now. If you or a family member is on Medi-Cal, or may soon require Medi-Cal assistance, you must take the initiative quickly. Be smart and act before it is no longer possible to safeguard your estate. I am an expert in this area of law and have helped hundreds of clients to economically save their homes and other assets over the years through my expertise in Medi-Cal law, estate planning and asset protection. My offices are located at 16133 Ventura Blvd, Suite 700, Encino, CA 91436-2406.
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