Transfer Penalty Traps and NJ Medicaid Applications
Medicaid Long-Term Services and Supports (MLTSS) is the government program that pays for nursing home care and long-term care in other settings for people who meet the stringent financial requirements. The application is filed once the non-excluded resources (assets) are below the specified levels. Along with the application form itself, the applicant must supply numerous documents as proof...
Elder penalized for wages paid to family caregiver, due to insufficient evidence
When a person applies for Medicaid to pay for home care or nursing home care, a penalty will be imposed if assets were given away during the preceding five year “look-back” period. There are numerous regulations in federal and state law concerning “uncompensated transfers,” which are gifts. A “gift” is distinguished by law from a “payment for goods...
Court reiterates the strict standards for “caregiver child” house transfer exception to Medicaid penalty
When a person applies for Medicaid to pay for nursing home care (or assisted living or in-home care), they have to be mindful of whether transfers of assets will result in a denial of benefits. This denial is called the “transfer penalty,” and the 5-year Look-Back rules capture most transfers that occurred within the 5 years preceding the application. There are a handful of...
Transfers during the look-back merely raise presumption of intent to qualify for Medicaid
When a medicaid application is processed, five years’ of transactions are examined, and among other things, they look to see if there were uncompensated transfers or “gifts.” The agency then must presume that the transfers were made for the purpose of expediting eligibility, and can impose a transfer penalty for the gifts. You are entitled to a Fair Hearing at the Office of...
Get ready for a wild ride when filing a NJ Medicaid application
Growing old doesn’t mean that people stop taking care of their family members and think only about themselves. Families expand. Children may enter second marriages. The grandchildren get married. A child may run into financial trouble, lose their job or become medically disabled. Loving families support each other and that often means that people will share their home with the next...
Was it a Gift or a Loan? What do your Other Kids Think?
Many times over the years, as we work on their estate planning, my senior clients have told me that they gave a substantial sum to one of their children to help them with a specific need. Perhaps it was to pay off debt, or buy a house, or start a business, or pay for college expenses for their own children. Whatever the reason, an important legal question comes up: “Was this a gift or a...