Family Home—Intent to Return Home
This edition of the Koldin Law Center E-Newsletter is part of a series on Medicaid rules for “countable” life savings that must be spent towards the cost of care before you can qualify for Medicaid eligibility versus “non-countable” life savings.
All prior newsletters are saved on our website. You can read them by clicking here.
There are many special rules regarding whether the family home is “countable” or “not countable.”
In this newsletter we discuss the “Intent to Return Home” declaration for the family home.
“Countable” assets in your name must be spent towards the cost of your care before you will qualify for Medicaid coverage to pay for your long-term care in a nursing home or at home.
Under the Medicaid law, the family home is a special asset that has important additional protections in the event of a long term illness.
When a single person (never married, spouse has already died, divorced, or spouse is already in a nursing home) enters a Nursing Home, he/she is entitled to keep $31,175 (2024 figure).
Unless a special exception applies, the family home is no longer exempt and must be sold and spent towards the cost of care before the single person would become eligible for Medicaid.
Intent to Return Home
There is one important exception where the Medicaid Agency cannot force the sale of the home and that is when the Medicaid applicant signs a statement declaring his/her intent to someday return to his/her home.
When the Medicaid applicant signs an “intent to return home” statement, the Medicaid Agency will not force the sale of the home. The home will not be counted for eligibility purposes, but the Medicaid Agency will place a lien on the home.
If you do not return home, then whenever your home is sold, while you are living or after your death, Medicaid will have the right to be reimbursed from the proceeds of sale for any expenses it paid toward the cost of your care.
If you do return home, then the Medicaid Agency must withdraw the lien.
Submitting an intent to return home does not protect your home unless you actually return home. It is a method to establish Medicaid eligibility without being forced to sell your home.
The advantage of delaying the sale of your home and establishing immediate Medicaid eligibility is that:
(1) it protects you from losing your home in the event you become medically able in the future to return home; and
(2) the cost of care is much less expensive at the Medicaid rate than the private pay rate which means that the depletion of the equity in your home is at a lower rate.
Depending on how long you remain in a nursing home, your income, the cost of care, and the value of your home, it is possible that there may be some equity remaining for your heirs after the Medicaid lien is paid off at the time of the sale of the home.
For a discussion about how to protect your life savings even if you are already in a nursing home, please visit our website by clicking here.
At the Koldin Law Center, P.C., located in East Syracuse, New York, we have over 50 years of experience helping individuals plan for immediate crisis and long term care.
The Koldin Law Center, P.C. limits its practice to the specific field of Elder Law which includes estate planning and Medicaid law.
Our attorneys are available to discuss your estate planning options, including the advantages and disadvantages of Revocable Trusts and Irrevocable Trusts, along with other estate planning considerations including a Will, Power of Attorney, and Health Care Proxy.
When the Koldin Law Center, P.C. handles a Medicaid case, we not only handle the entire application process, but we also review asset protection options with our clients. We review with our clients who are already in a Nursing Home options to protect some or all of their assets beyond merely establishing Medicaid eligibility.
We do not charge a fee for the initial consultation. We welcome your children, family attorney, accountant, and/or financial planner to be present at the initial consultation.
There is something you can do.
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Our Attorneys are available to speak to your organization
Our Attorneys speak to groups throughout New York State as a public service. If you would like to arrange for one of our Attorneys to speak to your group, please contact our office.
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We appreciate your referrals
We have been told by many clients who are in a crisis that they wish they had known about our firm much sooner. We are proud of the many families we have helped in times of crisis.
We are also proud of the many families we helped avoid financial crisis by doing estate planning in advance.
We all share the responsibility for making our family and friends aware of the planning options available to them.
Your referral to the Koldin Law Center could make a major difference in the lives of your family and friends if they are someday faced with a long term illness.
Remember that the Koldin Law Center offers many services for clients of all ages. Our services range from basic estate planning such as a simple will to complex estate planning including asset preservation planning.
THERE IS NO FEE FOR THE INITIAL CONSULTATION
