Medi-cal Recovery Home Equity question

[jomustard]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Calif
My brother (55 years old) and I (57 years old) own our home.... tenacy in common....Joe has 80% I have 20%. The home is owned free and clear. Neither one of us has children. My brother is on SSI and Med-ical due to cirrhosis of the liver. I am on Med-ical as of last year.
We were thinking of taking a Home Equity line of credit out on the house. Joe has very good credit. I do not. I have an unpaid student loan of $2000 from 25 years ago. We would like to have this HELOC to help pay that off and live comfortably.
We are low income. Joe gets his SSI. I have been Joe’s caregiver through IHSS. We also have an ebay store which provides a small income.
We were wondering how this would effect Joe's SSI and Medi-cal?
Would it be a good idea to get a HELOC on the house? Neither of us has children to leave the house to. It would help us live more comfortably.
A more important question is what happens to the house after one of us passes? Does Medi-cal put a lien on it? How do we avoid that?

 

[FlyingRon]

Without income, no lender would be fool enough to give you a credit line no matter how wonderful your credit is.

The money received as the loan will not be counted as income with regard to his SSI benefits, but any money received and held can indeed be counted towards the $2000 resource limit for SSI.

Estate recovery occurs if he moves into nursing care at the state's expense. Yes, then they will lein the property, though they will not foreclose on it while an owner is still living there.