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Whose duty to notify Medicare of lawsuit settlement?

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Sister-in-law

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Iowa

When my mother passed away last summer, she was in the middle of a personal injury lawsuit. She was the injured party and instituted the lawsuit. My estranged brother is executor of the estate. He and I are the sole beneficiaries of the estate. He was substituted as plaintiff for the lawsuit when she passed away.
The lawsuit is listed as miscellaneous property in the inventory filed for probate. The lawsuit has now settled out of court for 250K. The out of court settlement specifies that "Plaintiffs shall satisfy all liens including but not limited to Medicare liens from the proceeds of the settlement." (As a result of the injury, my mother was hospitalized and Medicare as well as Blue Cross paid her care.) The settlement has not yet been paid, but is due to be paid within the next several weeks.
My brother has filed for executor's fees for the full amount of 2% of the entire estate as allowed under Iowa law. I am being asked to sign off on that payment, as well as lawyers fees incurred in the probate process.
There are 3 lawyers involved. One is the litigator of the lawsuit, hired by my brother when he exercised power of attorney while my mother was alive. That lawyer agreed to be paid on an hourly basis rather than a contigency. The 2nd lawyer is the lawyer for the estate, who also agreed to be paid on an hourly basis rather than the 2% of the estate that he was allowed under the law. The third lawyer is mine, whom I hired to protect my interests because of my brothers' animosity toward me.
My question is this. I understand that Medicare and Blue Cross are entitled to repayment of the monies they paid out on my mother's behalf from the proceeds of the settlement. To date, no subrogation liens have been filed by them, but that is because no one has notified them. Whose responsibility is it to notify them? I do not want to sign off on anything until I am sure that the full extent of the law has been complied with and I do not ever want to come to the attention of the Federal government as the beneficiary of a sum of money from which they should have been first reimbursed their costs.
My lawyer is incredulous, and the other two would just as soon be rid of my brother and the whole matter because he browbeat them into a non-standard fee schedule and is a very difficult person to deal with.
How do I keep from being left holding the bag and ensure that the proper liens are filed and paid? Thanks for any insight.
 


seniorjudge

Senior Member
Q: How do I keep from being left holding the bag and ensure that the proper liens are filed and paid?

A: Finally. A simple one. Refuse to sign till you are notified by the Feds that they know about all this (i.e., a release).
 

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