Could the nursing home take my mother's cash money or can I move it before placing my mother there?

This is a relatively complex question. You are your mother's fiduciary. If you take money that belongs to your mom, you could face civil and criminal penalties. The power of attorney document may offer some insight as to whether you have the opportunity to make gifts. Does your mother owe you any money. There are medicaid planning issues that go beyond the scope of this answer in which you should seek the advice of an elder law attorney.

You need to be very careful. Do not do anything until you speak to an attorney. You will want to get a consult first with an attorney that does medical planning. They can direct you on how to protect mom's money and plan properly. If you just transfer the money to yourself it can still be counted against mom in terms of her eligibility. Also, you need a proper plan to protect any future claims against her land/property.

You can move your mother's cash but it will not assist in her placement or in retaining her assets. You need to discuss this matter with an elder law attorney who can assist you in providing for your mother and preserving what you can of her estate.

If your mother might need to apply for Medicaid, then you must be very careful about transferring assets. An elder law attorney can guide you regarding what techniques will work.

If your Mom needs the care, she has to pay for it we have no national health system. Moving her money or hiding it would constitute fraud. So, yes, she'll have to pay down her cash, sell her house, and continue to pay for care. It is possible that if you lived with your mother in her home and cared with her, you might be able to save the home and still have her qualify for Medicaid. See an elder law attorney about paying for long-term care.

First, the nursing home, or board and care facility cannot take your mother's land, nor her checking account; however as a matter of caution, move the checking account to your control for payment of her expenses, and keep accurate records with receipts matching the payments; and keep the checking account, separate and apart for your mother, from your personal account, the reason being should you ever be challenged re the receipt and expenditure of your mother's money re her care, you have a tracking/history of use.

Since the money in the account is admittedly that of your mother, and, as a general rule, must be used for her care. There is a look back period where transfers of persons property are scrutinized before being able to have medicaid pay her nursing expenses. It may be possible to shield a part of the funds, but more facts are needed. Consult an attorney.

No, you cannot move her money. There is a five year look back period. If anything is transferred now, your mother would be ineligible for benefits. The nursing home will not "take the house." Homes are exempt for Medicaid qualification purposes. There are things you can do, but whether or not to do so depends on the amount of money involved, among other things. Many nursing facilities require private pay for a period of time, before they will accept someone as a Medicaid patient. You will want to check with the facility you have in mind to see what their rules are.

That is a much more complex question than it might seem. The devil is in the details, and therefore you should see an attorney who is familiar with this area of the law. Generally, the government can look back to determine what happened to the money. In your case you are talking about a private pay nursing home. Confer with an attorney.

If your mother?s name is on the account, the Department of Human Services, the agency that processes nursing home Medicaid applications in Michigan, will consider it her money and the money will count towards the $2,000 countable asset limit. The exception to that rule is if you can prove the money is actually your funds, i.e., you deposited your paycheck in this account, etc. That being said, if your mother needs to stay in the nursing home, it may be possible to save at least half of the money or more; you may need the assistance of an elder law attorney who is familiar with Medicaid qualification in order to accomplish this.

I hope your mother is still competent. She should see an attorney to update her estate plan and power of attorney documents.

You need to see an elder law attorney now. There are many ways your mother can obtain the best quality of care at the least cost to her and her family. In fact with planning now she can save anywhere between 50-70% of her assets and accelerate her qualification for Medicaid. I can only imagine how overwhelmed you are right now. It has taken me years to master my expertise and for one to get it in an hour is not possible. I understand the goal is to ensure that your mother receives the greatest quality of car at the least cost to her and her family. The following explanation is a cut and paste of a recent letter that applies to a client's mother. This strategy will work with any amount of assets, large and small. As for the strategies we would use here is a brief explanation. The planning method we use is commonly referred to as ?half a loaf?. The explanation is a cut and paste of a recent letter that applies to a client?s mother. This strategy will work with any amount of assets, large and small. This strategy is commonly known as half-a-loaf planning. I encourage you to share this with your siblings. The money that is saved is meant for your mother?s needs during her lifetime, such as bed holds should she return to a hospital and need to hold the bed, extra care or even supporting the home. Transfers/Gifts Under Medicaid Laws one can protect a portion of their assets from having to be spent down to pay the costs of long term care by transferring them out of their name as outright gifts. This type of transfer will cause one to be ineligible for Medicaid for one month for every $7,032 transferred or be ineligible for one day for every $234 transferred. In other words, if one transferred their assets totaling about $200,000 (the value of the assets minus a person's resource allowance of $2,000.00), one would be ineligible/disqualified for Medicaid for 28.44 months or 28 months and and 13 days ($200,000 $7,032 = 28.44) beginning on the date one becomes eligible for Medicaid, but for the transfer of assets. To clarify, the law penalizes a person from qualifying for Medicaid when they become eligible, but for the transfer of assets. This does not mean one cannot make gifts. We can still utilize a lump sum gift (usually not all of the assets) and convert the amount not gifted into an exempt asset or transaction. This strategy would cause a penalty period as a result of the amount gifted away and the amount not gifted would then be used to pay for the care during the penalty period caused by the lump sum gift. For example, we can utilize a special promissory note or a short term annuity. These strategies are further explained below. Finally, all gifts completed that are older than 5 years are not reportable. Also, a person can spend their money as they see fit as long as it is for fair value. The advantage of making gifts is that the transfer is simple to accomplish. The disadvantage is that one will lose control of her assets. A gift to one's loved ones means that the funds transferred belong to them, no matter what promises anyone may make to hold the funds. The funds are vulnerable in the event of a divorce, lawsuit, bankruptcy or the decision to simply use the funds for themselves. While this may be difficult, we need to know if there have been any gifts over $234.00 made within the last five years. If a person has made such gifts we would like to know when, how much and if possible, receive documentation of said gifts. Please note that the following can be considered gifts under Medicaid regulations: adding someone?s name to a bank account; loaning a loved one money without a formal loan agreement in place; and, gifting under federal income tax laws. Gifting Strategies we can still utilize a lump sum gift (usually not all of the assets) and convert the remain