Blog

estate planning

Transfer Penalty Reversed Where Home Was Returned. Three months prior to a nursing home admission, a 98 year old Petitioner purchased her daughters home for $406,300, plus personal property valued at $26,775. She paid by transferring securities valued at $484,766.78, and $51,691.78 was returned to Petitioner as an over-payment. Petitioner’s alleged hope was that she […]

estate planning

Georgia’s Medicaid Manual cannot be enforced when it conflicts with federal law. Applicant resided in an assisted living facility until she went to a nursing home in 2008 and applied for Medicaid. Prior to that time, her vacant home was placed on the market and sold. To accomplish the sale, Petitioner conveyed her life estate […]

estate planning

Assessment of transfer penalty on sale of life estate affirmed. Conservators sold life estate for $1,500, then sold the applicant’s home for $55,000 after putting $13,397 into repairing the home. A transfer of resource penalty was assessed because the life estate interest was .58914 percent of the home value, which is well below $1,500. On […]

estate planning

No penalty may be assessed where resources are transferred directly to a disabled child. A nursing home resident transferred approximately $24,000 to a disabled child. DFCS imposed a transfer penalty because the funds were transferred directly to the child instead of to a trust for the child. The caseworker’s decision was reversed because 42 U.S.C. 1396p(c)(2)(B)(iii) […]

estate planning

Transfer of resources penalty affirmed. Nursing home resident applied for Medicaid in January 2008. During review, caseworkers discovered a home assessed at $90,351, was transferred to a close friend for $40,000 within the lookback period. Additionally, $10,000 was withdrawn from the resident’s account and several small checks and a vehicle were issued to the friend. […]

estate planning

An applicant filed three Medicaid applications from February 7 through November 26, and all of them were denied for failure to submit necessary financial verification. A fair hearing was conducted on November 26, 2018 where the ALJ gave the applicant additional time to supply verification. Once that verification was supplied, on May 14, 2019, the […]

estate planning

Divorce is one of the most aggressive Medicaid planning tools. Divorce should not be approached lightly and should not be attempted without an attorney. Most Medicaid plans can be completed without the necessity of divorce. Even when divorce appears to be the answer, a simpler procedure, commonly known as a “Catholic divorce” (e.g., an action […]

estate planning

The general rule under 42 U.S. Code § 1396p(c)(1) is that any transfer for less than fair market value results in assessment of a transfer of resources penalty. There are, however, exceptions to the general rule. Subsection (c)(2)(A)(iv) is one of those exceptions and it provides that no penalty can be assessed if a home […]

Cooperative federalism is not license to re-write clear federal rules (Co. App.) Ruth Koehler sued the Department after it terminated her benefits under its Medicaid Home and Community Based Services for the Elderly, Blind and Disabled (HCBS) program. Ruth, an elderly disabled woman, received HCBS as an alternative to nursing home care. Her husband resided […]

estate planning

Plaintiffs were a group of couples with one spouse in the nursing home and other spouse still in the community. In each case, the Community Spouse was the beneficiary of a Community Spouse Annuity Trust (“CSAT”). Some institutionalized spouses had been denied Medicaid, while others had applications pending. The Plaintiffs challenged the State’s treatment of […]

Filter by

  • Select Categories

  • Select Tags

Start Here

Enter your name and email address to keep up with what’s new at EZ Elder Law!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.