Mother selling home while on SSI

[Techguy12]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? VA

My mother has been disabled for several years. She had her house before becoming disabled and was allowed to keep it. Her SSI went towards the house payment. She is starting to reach that age where she needs more assistance, and I want her to move in with me. If we sell the house, there will be around $15,000 dollars left over. Would that money be considered an asset and would she lose her disability? My original plan was to have her pay a portion of rent at my place, but I'm concerned over the left over money from the house. Could I be gifted the 15,000 and prevent her from losing her SSI? I'm just throwing out ideas at this point because I've never been in a situation like this one. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I don't have the income to support both of us for very long if she were to lose her benefits. Any ideas?


Thanks ahead of time.. :/

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? VA

My mother has been disabled for several years. She had her house before becoming disabled and was allowed to keep it. Her SSI went towards the house payment. She is starting to reach that age where she needs more assistance, and I want her to move in with me. If we sell the house, there will be around $15,000 dollars left over. Would that money be considered an asset and would she lose her disability? My original plan was to have her pay a portion of rent at my place, but I'm concerned over the left over money from the house. Could I be gifted the 15,000 and prevent her from losing her SSI? I'm just throwing out ideas at this point because I've never been in a situation like this one. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I don't have the income to support both of us for very long if she were to lose her benefits. Any ideas?


Thanks ahead of time.. :/

I don't understand...why should her assets not be used to pay her expenses before mine are?

 

[Techguy12]

I don't understand...why should her assets not be used to pay her expenses before mine are?

Thanks for stopping by with your awesome informative post. You have been so helpful. I hope you can notice the sarcasm in my typing. If not then accept the compliment.

 

[HRZ]

Modest sums can be invested in an ABLE account which does NOT impact the SSI asset count ...checkmid itmfits her fact pattern...

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? VA

My mother has been disabled for several years. She had her house before becoming disabled and was allowed to keep it. Her SSI went towards the house payment. She is starting to reach that age where she needs more assistance, and I want her to move in with me. If we sell the house, there will be around $15,000 dollars left over. Would that money be considered an asset and would she lose her disability? My original plan was to have her pay a portion of rent at my place, but I'm concerned over the left over money from the house. Could I be gifted the 15,000 and prevent her from losing her SSI? I'm just throwing out ideas at this point because I've never been in a situation like this one. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I don't have the income to support both of us for very long if she were to lose her benefits. Any ideas?


Thanks ahead of time.. :/

SSI vs SSDI is a pure welfare program...and therefore any change in usable assets affects benefits.

However, its possible that if there are specific costs of obtaining new housing for her to offset the amount she gains from selling her home that her benefits might not be disrupted...or might be disrupted for a shorter amount of time. For example, if you need to renovate a portion of your home to accommodate your mother (handicapped bathroom etc) that might offset some of her cash gain from selling her home.

 

[Techguy12]

Thanks for the info guys. I'm going to contact Social Security for some more info about this topic. Honestly, I did not even think about wheelchair access for our staircase and that will become an issue in the near future. I'll post back with updates and what ends up happening. If you have anymore ideas, feel free to comment.

 

[Janke]

Thanks for stopping by with your awesome informative post. You have been so helpful. I hope you can notice the sarcasm in my typing. If not then accept the compliment.

I notice you didn't bother to answer the question. Why should her money be gifted to you when it could be used to support herself for a period of time, rather than relying on public assistance. You noticed that the SSI program allowed her to retain this asset (house) while she was living there and still paid her even though her net worth was over the $2000 limit.

However, she may have other debts that could be paid; you could make arrangements to prepay for her funeral (there are guidelines and exclusions), and she could live on the balance for awhile. Yes, her money would not then be available for you to spend on your expenses and she would have to pay for stuff that she didn't used to have to pay for like copays and prescriptions. Like the rest of us who have money to do so.

If she is over the resource limit for less than 12 months and requests reinstatement (and shows how she spent the money), a new SSI claim would not be necessary.

She can be penalized for up to 36 months of non-payment if she gifts her money to you. That is a standard penalty for those who give away their money in order to get government money.

 

[LdiJ]

I notice you didn't bother to answer the question. Why should her money be gifted to you when it could be used to support herself for a period of time, rather than relying on public assistance. You noticed that the SSI program allowed her to retain this asset (house) while she was living there and still paid her even though her net worth was over the $2000 limit.

However, she may have other debts that could be paid; you could make arrangements to prepay for her funeral (there are guidelines and exclusions), and she could live on the balance for awhile. Yes, her money would not then be available for you to spend on your expenses and she would have to pay for stuff that she didn't used to have to pay for like copays and prescriptions. Like the rest of us who have money to do so.

If she is over the resource limit for less than 12 months and requests reinstatement (and shows how she spent the money), a new SSI claim would not be necessary.

She can be penalized for up to 36 months of non-payment if she gifts her money to you. That is a standard penalty for those who give away their money in order to get government money.

Excuse me, but money spent to make his home handicapped accessible would NOT be spending money on himself. He doesn't need a handicapped accessible house...his mother needs his house to be handicapped accessible. Making it handicapped accessible does not even raise the value of the house in most areas.

 

[Janke]

Excuse me, but money spent to make his home handicapped accessible would NOT be spending money on himself. He doesn't need a handicapped accessible house...his mother needs his house to be handicapped accessible. Making it handicapped accessible does not even raise the value of the house in most areas.

I didn't answer a question about spending money on a ramp; I answered a question about gifting money to an adult child.

If the SSI recipient spend her money on her expenses, which conceivable could include modifying a home to suit her needs (although there is no policy on how the money can be spent - it will be a judgement call by the claims rep), then the money is not given away in order to qualify.

 

[HRZ]

SHe may b able to put some funds into an "ABLE" acccount which lawfully takes it out of count ?

 

[Techguy12]

I notice you didn't bother to answer the question. Why should her money be gifted to you when it could be used to support herself for a period of time, rather than relying on public assistance. You noticed that the SSI program allowed her to retain this asset (house) while she was living there and still paid her even though her net worth was over the $2000 limit.

However, she may have other debts that could be paid; you could make arrangements to prepay for her funeral (there are guidelines and exclusions), and she could live on the balance for awhile. Yes, her money would not then be available for you to spend on your expenses and she would have to pay for stuff that she didn't used to have to pay for like copays and prescriptions. Like the rest of us who have money to do so.

If she is over the resource limit for less than 12 months and requests reinstatement (and shows how she spent the money), a new SSI claim would not be necessary.

She can be penalized for up to 36 months of non-payment if she gifts her money to you. That is a standard penalty for those who give away their money in order to get government money.

I didn't answer because I was the one asking the question in the first place? Zigner was not being nice when he asked that question above which is why my reply back to him was not intended to be nice. Maybe if he would have answered my question, then I would have answered his? Conversation is a two way street. I prefer talking to people that are informative. For example, I might not agree with everything someone might say, but I respect the one's that are actually trying to help.

If you must know about the gift idea, it was to give my mother additional time to think on what she wanted to do with the money. Nothing more. I would gift it to charity if I knew it was going to mess with her ssi. This is mainly due to medical more than anything else. Also, involving her house. The house she is living in and her car are not counted as assets. I've never heard of Social Security considering the house or car an asset while they own and use it. At least not in my lifetime. After the house is sold and she no longer lives in the home; whatever equity was left over in the house becomes the asset amount. I just got done talking with Social Security about it as well. They told me not to gift the money as you said. It will cause a penalty. They said she could spend it on any kind of moving fee, furniture, clothing, burial services up to 1,500 dollars, or addons to the house such as a medical ramp. They are very lenient when it comes to money left over from selling a home it seems. It was the first time I've ever been scared over her ssi. This was a very educational event. We just have to make sure we have the receipts and everything is documented for Social Security.

The current plan is to look into a disability ramp/cost. I was also suggested to do the same for vehicle ramp access, wheelchair cost, electric wheelchair, etc.

 

[Janke]

Gift her money to charity as a viable option? Instead of spending it on her own expenses?

If she had to pay for medical care, then yes, $15,000 would not go very far. But at least Medicaid might not need to pay those bills. Think of it as gifting it to Medicaid since you considered a gift to charity.

However she spends it, the resources will be decided on the basis of the value of all countable resources as of the first moment of the first day of the month. So she could owe SSI for a month, or maybe two or three, depending upon how long it takes to spend the money. Or not at all even the money is spent quickly.

 

[LdiJ]

I didn't answer because I was the one asking the question in the first place? Zigner was not being nice when he asked that question above which is why my reply back to him was not intended to be nice. Maybe if he would have answered my question, then I would have answered his? Conversation is a two way street. I prefer talking to people that are informative. For example, I might not agree with everything someone might say, but I respect the one's that are actually trying to help.

If you must know about the gift idea, it was to give my mother additional time to think on what she wanted to do with the money. Nothing more. I would gift it to charity if I knew it was going to mess with her ssi. This is mainly due to medical more than anything else. Also, involving her house. The house she is living in and her car are not counted as assets. I've never heard of Social Security considering the house or car an asset while they own and use it. At least not in my lifetime. After the house is sold and she no longer lives in the home; whatever equity was left over in the house becomes the asset amount. I just got done talking with Social Security about it as well. They told me not to gift the money as you said. It will cause a penalty. They said she could spend it on any kind of moving fee, furniture, clothing, burial services up to 1,500 dollars, or addons to the house such as a medical ramp. They are very lenient when it comes to money left over from selling a home it seems. It was the first time I've ever been scared over her ssi. This was a very educational event. We just have to make sure we have the receipts and everything is documented for Social Security.

The current plan is to look into a disability ramp/cost. I was also suggested to do the same for vehicle ramp access, wheelchair cost, electric wheelchair, etc.

You are also going to need to consider a wheel chair accessible bathroom...so you may need to remodel a bathroom as well. Particularly a roll in shower if possible.

 

[Techguy12]

Gift her money to charity as a viable option? Instead of spending it on her own expenses?

If she had to pay for medical care, then yes, $15,000 would not go very far. But at least Medicaid might not need to pay those bills. Think of it as gifting it to Medicaid since you considered a gift to charity.

However she spends it, the resources will be decided on the basis of the value of all countable resources as of the first moment of the first day of the month. So she could owe SSI for a month, or maybe two or three, depending upon how long it takes to spend the money. Or not at all even the money is spent quickly.

Janke, gifting it to charity was a figure of speech. It was not meant to be taken in a literal sense. I understand the confusion if you saw it as such. Is giving to charity even an option in this scenario? I honestly do not know. If I ended up having money left over the 2,000 dollar limit then yes paying her own expense is an option.


When it comes to the bathroom, luckily my primary shower is a walk in type. I can make some modifications to the bottom framing of the of the door and the shower would have roll in access after that. We would need to install side handles on the walls and a spigot with an extension.