life estates

[warnerb]

What is the name of your state? tennessee
In 1980 a life estate in a home built by my husband was established by my husband and me for my parents. My father died in 1994 and my 89 year old mother has used up all her funds. She now needs to be in a skilled nursing home and should qualify for medicaid. How will this life estate affect her qualifing for medicaid? She has been unable to pay the property taxes for two years and we have had to incur all the expenses for the last year or so.

 

[seniorjudge]

What is the name of your state? tennessee
In 1980 a life estate in a home built by my husband was established by my husband and me for my parents. My father died in 1994 and my 89 year old mother has used up all her funds. She now needs to be in a skilled nursing home and should qualify for medicaid. How will this life estate affect her qualifing for medicaid? She has been unable to pay the property taxes for two years and we have had to incur all the expenses for the last year or so.

I doubt that her life estate is worth that much but it is worth something and will be classified as an estate. The medicaid folks will tell you exactly how much.

 

[lwpat]

Actually, I doubt that they will know. Talk to an accountant and get him to look at the expected life. The value will be the fair market value of the rent for the remainder of her expected lifetime. You can purchase her life estate and then it will end. Since she owes the taxes and other maintenance expenses, you can use them to offset the purchase price.