frustratedDIL
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New York
My 85 year old mother-in-law made uninformed decisions when arranging for the placement of her 95 year old sister into a skilled nursing facility and is now facing a ~$60K transfer penalty. My MIL was adamant for years that she would provide 100% of the care the aunt required, and would not allow us to seek out in-home support or other elder care resources over the last 5-7 years when it truly became needed. Then about a year ago, my MIL had a complete change of heart realizing how much her own quality of life was degrading and the safety factors of all involved made it not possible for the aunt to continue living on her own.
My MIL coordinated with the Office of the Aging, and a local nursing home to fill out the appropriate forms and work the application...the aunt had enough assets to self-pay for the first few months of her care, and then went into a "Medicaid-pending" status ever since.
Long story short, my MIL is not business savy in any regard, but worse, is at that point in her own life where she is trying to assert her independence and stubbornly would not allow other family members to be involved and aware of the planning and transition of the aunt throughout these meetings and coordination period.
The $60K Medicaid has disputed over the 5 year lookback period were most checks my MIL wrote to herself, to reimburse herself for groceries, bills, home care and other financial transactions she covered out of her own accounts regularly, and would make periodic deposits back to herself from the aunt's accounts. (Aunt had severe short term memory and has not been handling her financial afairs for years.) There were a couple of smaller transactions to us (around $4000 in 2009 that I truly can't recall the purpose of - the aunt lived rent free in one of our homes, so I know it must have been housing-related, but again didn't realize the importance of keeping appropriate records) and a larger ~$10,000 to a brother-in-law.
Here are my questions:
When Medicaid and my MIL settle on a penalty amount, is it the nursing home that would try to collect the penalty, as a "balance due?" Or does Medicaid try to settle the debt?
Who will be pursued for recovery of the debt? Will it be my MIL exclusively? (I have to believe she signed something with the nursing home accepting financial responsibility for the aunt). Or will the recipients of funds be pursued? I am not too worried about the $4000 in question in our case, but the brother-in-law and perhpas a young niece don't have the means to repay.
If it is my MIL who is exclusively pursued (because she likely accepted financial responsibility for the aunt with the nursing home) might we have any recourse with the nursing home? My MIL has no idea what she signed, whether she accepted responsibility or not, certainly would not have known the extent of the financial commitment she might have agreed to even if she knew she was accepting responsibility, and absolutely doesn't have the means to have assumed such a responsibility or pay it back now that we're facing this penalty situation.
As we're not a party to the proceedings at this point, and haven't been involved at all, until she got into this mess, it is really frustrating to not be able to anticipate a likely potential outcome.
I know my MIL acted out of ignorance these past few years, but certainly there was no intent to defraud medicaid, I'm horrified by the thought she could be slapped with a $60K judgement for simply trying to do her best to see to her sister's needs.
My 85 year old mother-in-law made uninformed decisions when arranging for the placement of her 95 year old sister into a skilled nursing facility and is now facing a ~$60K transfer penalty. My MIL was adamant for years that she would provide 100% of the care the aunt required, and would not allow us to seek out in-home support or other elder care resources over the last 5-7 years when it truly became needed. Then about a year ago, my MIL had a complete change of heart realizing how much her own quality of life was degrading and the safety factors of all involved made it not possible for the aunt to continue living on her own.
My MIL coordinated with the Office of the Aging, and a local nursing home to fill out the appropriate forms and work the application...the aunt had enough assets to self-pay for the first few months of her care, and then went into a "Medicaid-pending" status ever since.
Long story short, my MIL is not business savy in any regard, but worse, is at that point in her own life where she is trying to assert her independence and stubbornly would not allow other family members to be involved and aware of the planning and transition of the aunt throughout these meetings and coordination period.
The $60K Medicaid has disputed over the 5 year lookback period were most checks my MIL wrote to herself, to reimburse herself for groceries, bills, home care and other financial transactions she covered out of her own accounts regularly, and would make periodic deposits back to herself from the aunt's accounts. (Aunt had severe short term memory and has not been handling her financial afairs for years.) There were a couple of smaller transactions to us (around $4000 in 2009 that I truly can't recall the purpose of - the aunt lived rent free in one of our homes, so I know it must have been housing-related, but again didn't realize the importance of keeping appropriate records) and a larger ~$10,000 to a brother-in-law.
Here are my questions:
When Medicaid and my MIL settle on a penalty amount, is it the nursing home that would try to collect the penalty, as a "balance due?" Or does Medicaid try to settle the debt?
Who will be pursued for recovery of the debt? Will it be my MIL exclusively? (I have to believe she signed something with the nursing home accepting financial responsibility for the aunt). Or will the recipients of funds be pursued? I am not too worried about the $4000 in question in our case, but the brother-in-law and perhpas a young niece don't have the means to repay.
If it is my MIL who is exclusively pursued (because she likely accepted financial responsibility for the aunt with the nursing home) might we have any recourse with the nursing home? My MIL has no idea what she signed, whether she accepted responsibility or not, certainly would not have known the extent of the financial commitment she might have agreed to even if she knew she was accepting responsibility, and absolutely doesn't have the means to have assumed such a responsibility or pay it back now that we're facing this penalty situation.
As we're not a party to the proceedings at this point, and haven't been involved at all, until she got into this mess, it is really frustrating to not be able to anticipate a likely potential outcome.
I know my MIL acted out of ignorance these past few years, but certainly there was no intent to defraud medicaid, I'm horrified by the thought she could be slapped with a $60K judgement for simply trying to do her best to see to her sister's needs.
