Do I have to sell her car?

Thank you so much for all of the information! I’ll need to read and reread to absorb it all. Thanks again!

My experience is that they are allowed to keep a home and a car as an exempt asset for their lifetime and then upon their death exempt assets become a nonexempt assets of their estate. And is subject to a required attempt of recoup or recovery (to repay) by Medicaid via MERP however your State does this program. & can be dealt with however heirs, Executors choose to deal with it should they want to.

So that Honda, mom more than likely, in theory- can keep it, as well as the mobile home.
HOWEVER….. this may not be quite as wonderful as you think.
Heres why, the LTC Medicaid program will require her to do a copay or a SOC share of cost of almost all her monthly income (like her SS) to the NH. All she will,p get to keep - if a widow with no dependents- will be whatever her State has set as the PNA aka personal needs allowance. Which varies by State. Like Tx is $60, but Mass is $72.80. So $72.80 will be it for moms $ each month and it is supposed to be used for her personal needs, like beauty shoppe, clothing & toiletries replacements and things not covered by Medicaid for her to live at the NH. Like in room cable, in Room phone. In theory it should not pay for the mobile home or the car as she does NOT need either as she no longer lives in the community anymore. So if there is a mortgage, car note or lot rental, someone else will have to pay that and till beyond the grave.

the car has a note, right? Personally if you can pay it and it’s insurance with you added as a driver and the car and it’s costs makes sense to keep, do it. Like you have your own home with a safe easy place to safely garage it, it works for your wallet easy peasy, ya keep it.
But that hulk of a mobile home, that has lot costs. Plus these seem to depreciate big time. The issue with selling stuff is Medicaid wants assets sold FMV aka fair market value and Mobile homes flat depreciate from the time you walk back to your car. So try to have a clear conversation with the Medicaid caseworker on how to deal with this as to how this has to be priced. If it’s in a MH community, maybe it just could be sold to someone already there and an easy transfer of title. Look at your POA to be 100% sure you can do this…. I have no idea if POA needs special wording for MH as they really aren’t traditional real estate. ((We had friends who went and bought MH after Hur Katrina as not going into those formaldehyde trailers to have a place to stay while they rebuilt their homes and basically they were worth next to zero to resell as they depreciated so much immediately; paid folks to disconnect it and get it off and away). Mom won’t have $ to pay for the lot. So find out asap just what need to happen on its costs ASAP as you don’t want to have all sorts of fines placed. Realize that any $ that the MH gets sold for is technically income to mom the month paid and then assets every month afterwards.

and Medicaid has strict limits on both of these. And mom cannot gift you $ or reimburse any $ for stuff you pay for as Medicaid basically looks at what we do as done for free without expectations of reimbursement unless we have advance paperwork done. We do it out of a sense of familial responsibility. So if it sells for 12K you have to spend down that 12K asap within the month to keep her LTC Medicaid eligibility. Like she buys a preneed funeral policy within Medicaid limits and buys new eyeglasses and a $$$ walker or wheelchairs all within the same month. Ask about her paying car note and a yrs worth of car insurance….. I don’t think it’s allowed but ask anyways & if caseworker say ok then do it asap in that month.
Good luck!

You need to talk to a Medicaid caseworker. Her home maybe an exempt asset but if you sell, it has to be at Market Value. If you keep the home, then u will be responsible for the bills, taxes and upkeep. All her money goes to her car. You may have to sell the car again at Market Value, pay off the loan and spend down the remainder.

The NH does not have anything to do with the car or the house. You deal with Medicaid. Neither "takes" anything. Moms SS and any pension will be turned over to the NH and then Medicaid pays their share. I chose to allow the NH to become payee for Moms SS and small pension. They set up a personal needs acct. Medicaid allows for a small amount of money to be deducted from Moms SS for personal items. Again, make an appt with Medicaid to find out what you need to do.