Sorry if this has been discussed before. My wife is an HD patient and is very close to needing full time care. Is there some info somewhere that will walk me through the procedure for getting her name off of our mortgage and the process of getting the state to cover her care? I'm hoping that I don't have to refinance my home. I may not qualify due to having co-signed for my twin daughters' student loans. Can you take your spouse off of a mortgage without a refi?? I'd hate to think that just because I helped my daughters get into college that I'll lose my house over it.

Please don't think I sound uncaring and selfish. I've been caring for her for 3 years now. She had symptoms for the last 5-6 years but I think we were in denial. We are way to familiar with this hidious disease. She's lost her mother and two sisters as well as having one remaining sister in late stages. I'm dealing with caring for her the best I can, but I am now in need of a direction for the financial aspects of her long term care. She's just become eligible for Medicare, but I'm not sure if she should sign up for it. She's on my employer's health plan, so does she need Medicare right now? That's and extra $100/mo that we don't have especially if she is covered by my company's plan. Or should I drop her from my plan and save $275/mo and put her on Medicare? Or keep her on both?? Sorry for all of the questions.

Thanks for any info,

Jeff



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2010 10:17AM by JeffreyB.

Hi Jeff,

No doubts you are "caring" and preparing financially. If you are looking at Medicaid to pay for her LTC care your jointly owned home mortgage will be excluded if you (the community spouse) resides in the home while your spouse is in LTC. You may need to remove your wife's name from the mortgage within 6 months of becoming Medicaid eligible, not all States are the same. If you didn't remove her name it would still be exluded as long as you live in the home and she is in LTC, if you were to die before the one in the LTC then the home would be a resource of your wife only and the state could recoop the proceeds by sale of the home. Depends on whether you still owe anything on the home. If you still owe a mortgage company they may not be willing to remove her name from the Property Deed.
But, as long as the community spouse (you) resides in the home the equity value would be excluded. You can call and ask your local medicaid office.
If no lean is on the Deed than you can probably just go to Property Valuation Office in your county and have the Deed in your name only. You can get an attorney for all the details. You didn't say if your wife is able to sign anything?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2010 10:29AM by LizzieAnn.

Your issue is not removing her from the mortgage but from the deed. To do this you simply have to file a quit claim deed. She must be capable of understanding and complying with this or the transaction would be moot. The fact that she remains on the mortgage is irrelevant. If she has no means of paying the mortgage the bank is out of luck.You will be responsible for it. Removing her from the deed may not resolve the issues you are aspiring to. Government agencies have a look back window and any recent transactions would not count. As Lizzie Ann said this would probably not be a Medicaid disqualifier.

Yes what everyone has said is true, remove from deed and six months or more to landing in NH. BUT all of this varies by state. You should contact an elder care attorney who can set you up the right way.

Some states will allow a deed change but if married still recognize spouse as owner.

Indiana has a law to protect spouses from loosing everything so houses are safe but all other assets are up for grabs.

Check with an eldercare attorney.

Yes we still owe on the house (13 years left). I thought that I had heard that the community spouse had to take the afflicted spouse's name off of the mortgage in order to get her care paid for by the state. At $8000/mo, there's no way I could ever cover it. I was planning on living there as long as I could. So from what you said above, would I need to refi the house in my name or would the state just require her name to be taken off of the deed? Would the mortgage company allow her name to be removed from the deed? Do I need to speak to some sort of lawyer that specializes in this thing? Sorry for all of the questions...

Thanks,
Jeff

Check with the Medicaid office in the State you live in.

You can call the office directly and ask the Supervisor questions.
Their job is to "legally" help make the client eligible for services and they should be more than willing to help you. Medicaid's job isn't to prevent someone from receiving benefits and you should be able to ask them any questions up front about policy. You can do that anonimously or tell them your situation.

If you (the community spouse) resides in the homestead property you probably would NOT be required to remove your wife's name from the mortgage or the deed and it would still be excluded. You may need a letter to provide to medicaid showing that your lender will not remove her name from the loan (therefore you can't get it removed from the deed) and it should be excluded.

You can always just call now and ask your lender would you be able to remove your wife's name from the mortgage and therfore you could get her name off the deed.

Yes .. find an elder care attorney in your area. What you heard may not be true... I heard things that were true but also didn't apply to me specifically. It's also true that most case workers don't know all the legalities so even they are not a reliable source of information.

Yes, speak to an elder care attorney. Every state is somewhat different and these matters are tricky. I'm all for saving money, but when it comes to these things, the money it costs to consult with an elder care attorney is well spent. You don't want to do something irrevocable that makes her ineligible for Medicaid.

For example, in my state, Medicaid told us that you can prepay for funerals and still qualify for Medicaid but you have to cash in term life insurance policies. We cashed in my MIL's for her and bought a prepaid funeral plan. What Medicaid did not tell us but a lawyer did was the funeral plan could cost no more than $5,000. It's an irrevocable plan and if we had gone over, it would have permanently disqualified her from Medicaid.

You can save money with the attorney by being prepared with information and questions at the visit.

Jeffrey- You are confusing mortgage with deed. A mortgage does not indicate ownership of anything. It is simply a contract which declares a debt owed to a person or entity. It is usually backed up with collateral (ie the deed to a house). A deed, on the other hand indicates ownership of property. It may or may not have an associated mortgage filed with it. Everyone is right, you should talk to a qualified attorney. Unless your wife is about to be sued for something, there is most likely no reason to remove her from your deed. In this case, you COULD remove her from the deed without the bank's permission because the bank would still have the property as collateral by virtue of holding the mortgage with you whose name remains on the deed. As far as removing her from your mortgage, that would accomplish nothing and it is very unlikely that the bank would stipulate to it. Good luck!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2010 03:15PM by howard.

Jeffrey,

What State do you live in?

I saw an elder care attorney about 3 weeks ago and was very surprised that a lot of things that people were telling me were totally untrue! I was told that medicaid couldn't touch my house as long as I was living in it, but could take the the money I made if I decided to sell and my attorney told me that that's not true.They cannot touch any of it. All of our savings is also off limits! Medicaid, also cannot touch anything that is in your name, but you have to be careful because here in NY there is a 5 year time period between transferring something into your name and applying for medicaid.

Also, in NY my husband automatically receives medicare part A, which is hosp coverage and part B which is for doctor visits. Part B is not mandatory and you can always add it later on. Even if you have medicare and medicaid you still need gap insurance. If it helps any, my plan is to drop medicare part B for now and keep our private health insurance. I considered dropping him, but then I may never be able to get him back on it later if needed. Also with medicare, you also have to get a separate policy for prescriptions. In your case though, you may need Part A, B and private insurance in order to pay the cost of a NH. A lawyer should be able answer all of those questions.


You definitely need a consultation. There is so much you need to know.

And judy our rules are so different than that... i won't repeat them because even with a lawyer I am not sure they apply to everyone even here in state, plus they change frequently.

Whoa! Do NOT just go and file a quit claim deed!

When you signed your Mortgage you also signed a Note. The terms of that Note more then likely will state that if you modify the deed they can call the Note due.

Now if the mortgage is being paid on time will they? Probably not but I've seen stranger stuff in all my years in the Title Insurance Industry.

Get in touch with an Elder Care attorney or a Real Estate attorney to do this right. Every state has different laws and some (mine) still have Dower Rights.

I didn't need to do that in my state, and you may not need to do this.

Most states have a "spousal protection" in the medicade provisions. They will not take your house.

The best way to do this is simply to schedule an appointment with the county DHS. Call them, tell them you need some help making some decisions.

They can walk you through it. In my case, they split our incomes and assets. We were separate.

Secondly, if you have a durable power of attorney for your wife, you can use it to change anything you want. If you don't have it, you need it. You can get one pretty quickly at the local lawyer.

Thanks everyone! All of the info is very much appreciated...

Jeff