Can Medicaid place a lien against your home when you pass away?

Can Medicaid place a lien against your home when you pass away?

Jim: My mother left us her homestead at co-op apartment. Is the nursing home entitled to that? Attorney Tom Olsen: Is it in the state of Florida? Jim: Yes. Attorney Tom Olsen: Is your mom now deceased? Jim: Yes. Attorney Tom Olsen: Jim, while your mom was alive, she had no rights to or Medicaid had no rights to put a lien against that because it was her home. Now that she's passed away, if it's going through probate, the probate process will require that they notify Medicaid and Medicaid may or may not file a lien against it. Attorney Robert Hidock: All right. Thank you. Attorney Tom Olsen: All right. Robert, we're always talking to people about how your home is protected from Medicaid and generally, we're talking about during their lifetime. You can be in a nursing home, you may not even be living in your home anymore and yet your home is still protected from nursing homes and Medicaid. Attorney Robert Hidock: Absolutely, Tom. There's always an intent to return home no matter how grave the situation is in the skilled nursing facility. However, what most people don't realize is that when that person passes, Medicaid can come after an estate for reimbursement and that's why when we have our workshops and we're talking to people, we're always educating and one of the tools that they can do now as part of pre-planning for Medicaid is to make sure they have a Lady Bird deed or enhanced life estate on their property. That way, once their loved one passes, the house is no longer in the estate, it's moved outside of the estate, it bypasses probate, it bypasses third-party creditor claims and it also bypasses Medicaid reimbursement so they can't come after the house. Attorney Tom Olsen: We're using Lady Bird deeds as a tool to avoid probate on people's homes, not only will we avoid probate with that Lady Bird deed, we would avoid the potential for a creditor to file a claim against it whether that's a doctor, hospital, credit card or Medicaid.