Q: Florida and Medicaid for Nursing Home:
My mom was just approved for Medicaid after being placed in a nursing home in Florida. At the time of application, my dad had well under his allowable $126,420 in assets. My parents home in MI was exempt in regards to the Medicaid application process. My dad wants to sell the MI home now. The paralegal who did my mom's Medicaid application said it would be okay to sell the house now because, even though the sale proceeds will put my dad's assets over the $126,420 he is allowed (house value around $125,000), this would be ok because Medicaid will never look at my dad's assets again. They will only look at my mom's assets at the yearly review. The paralegal said we could put the money from the sale of the house straight into my dad's bank account (bank account is in my dad's name only). I want to confirm that the paralegal is correct and that the money from the sale of the house won't cause any issues with my mom's Medicaid now or during the annual review. Thank you.
A:
Following approval, none of the assets solely owned by the community spouse are included as available to the institutional spouse. The amount of assets allocated to the community spouse which belong to the institutional spouse and are available to the institutional spouse must be transferred to the community spouse.
Any assets received by the institutionalized spouse after approval, which cause the total assets to exceed the asset standard, will not affect the individual's eligibility if they are transferred to an allowable person within the month of receipt. If the assets are still available to the institutionalized spouse the month after receipt, the value of the new assets is considered a countable asset to the institutionalized spouse the month after the assets are received.
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