QUESTION
Elder person's 64 year old house needs much rework to pass inspections. Can the house be sold to a rehab professional?
Asked on Jun 04th, 2014 on Elder Law - Missouri
More details to this question:
The elder person is in a nursing home and may have to apply for Medicaid in a year or so. The house was built by late husband and needs electrical upgrading, pluming upgrading, cabinets removed from basement and water damage cleaned up, new flooring throughout the upstairs among other items. The assessed value of house, for taxes is $115K and a rehab company, with a A+ better business bureau rating, offered $87.5K, which seems to be a good offer, considering what we'd have to pay from the elder's savings to fix up the house. Will selling this house to the rehab company be acceptable to Medicaid or will the elder person be penalized before having any Medicaid payments made? A Medicaid consultant (private business man, non-lawyer) advised us that this sale would be considered made to a speculator and that we would have to come up with an additional 20% of the sale price before Medicaid eligibility, since that is considered to be the speculator's profit.
1 ANSWER
nathan forck
This seems like an inefficient strategy. She is already in a nursing home and paying out of pocket for the next year. I gather she is spending down liquud assets over the next year to be Medicaid eligible, correct? Before I can answer, I might attempt to dissuade you based on the circumstances. I would suggest consulting with an elser law attorney to determine if this is really the best course of action. I offer a free consultation but even if you had to pay someone to sit down, it would be worthwhile.
Answered on Jun 05th, 2014 at 4:46 PM