My mom only gets about $1650 a month. I am worried we are getting to the point of needing to place her in a nursing home. We can rent her house to help with cost and my brother and I can pitch in. We will still be about $1200 short. Are there any other programs/grants that will assist based on income we can apply for?
Please use Medicaid, that is why it is there, to help take care of those who cannot afford to take care of themselves, for whatever reason.
It sounds like you have been paying 100% of the mortgage as well? Unless you have a legal agreement as to how the mortgage was to be credited to you against her or her estate, it doesn't matter that she paid zero on the mortgage. The mortgage holder doesn't care who pays it as long as it is paid. Ditto for tax assessor, insurance companies, etc. If you are paying for things, you need an agreement as to the terms on payments made or costs incurred.
Really in my experience, your options are limited:
- continue to take for her for whatever period of time takes you all beyond the 5 year mark so no transfer penalty, then apply for Medicaid to pay for her care either at home on some waiver in-home service or at a NH
- apply for Medicaid now and work with an attorney to get the caregiver exemption done so that the transfer of the property is viewed as within the exclusion to estate recovery by Medicaid.
- apply for Medicaid now and deal with the transfer penalty. If the house is low value, 1/3 may not be all that much and hopefully the NH will work out a payment option. If you are running out of caregiving ability, it could come to this. If you have significant costs spent that could lower her share, the transfer penalty could be reduced as well - speak with an attorney as to this possibility.
- you quit claim the property back to her, apply for Medicaid get her into a NH and deal with MERP - estate recovery of her 1/3 of the house when she finally dies.
Whatever the choice, you need good legal advise on how to do any of this so that the costs on the house you are paying for are in some way credited to you whether now or later. It's hard and not pretty choices to be made for all. Good luck
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