FYI

To avoid finding yourself or someone you care about in the situation that Randy and I are in there are some things you should know and share with your loved ones. There is a federal mandate that states that every state has to have an estate recovery program. Just google “Medicaid estate recovery”. It’s a scary thing. It does not matter if there is a will or not. You could lose your inheritance, or your loved one could lose what you have willed to them. I know this is in the case of one having to go on Medicaid, but you never know what could happen. There are a few exceptions, but not many. Below is a snipit of something I found on an AARP website.
Protections in Medicaid Estate Recovery: Findings, Promising Practices, and Model Notices
Research Report
Erica F. Wood, American Bar Association
Ellen M. Klem, ABA Commission on Law and Aging
May 2007
“Estate recovery has been federally mandated since 1993 when Congress required states to recoup the costs of LTC and other related Medicaid services from recipients’ homes and bank accounts. This makes Medicaid for institutionalized and older people very different from most federal benefit programs. Requiring low-income Medicaid beneficiaries to reimburse the government for services received often stuns surviving spouses and family members of deceased Medicaid recipients.”
It will most likely cost the state more money to foreclose on this place than it’s worth. All I’m saying is do some research and be prepared. We haven’t given up yet. We’re just working on plan C now.
Because I came into this scene late in the game, one day I’ll let Randy tell the whole story.