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 appeal, assessment of the penalty was affirmed, but the penalty was recalculated to deduct the $13,397 paid by the conservators.

OSAH-Franklin-Gatto-12-2008.pdf (December 15, 2008).

A transfer of a life estate “is for less than fair market value whenever the value of the transferred asset is greater than the value of the rights conferred by the life estate.” Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, State Medicaid Manual § 3258.9 (emphasis added).