Protecting assets from Medicaid

From: <Memills@aol.com>
Subject: Protecting assets from Medicaid
Date: Sun, 28 Jun 1998 17:36:34 EDT

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A couple of Medicaid  (Medi-Cal in California) 
questions regarding protecting assets from
Medi-Cal re-capture (or qualification).   If anyone
knows of any books, websites, or other
info sources to point me to, I would be most
appreciative.  Here are the particulars:


My 87 year old father lives with me.  I am
his only child.     He has had
several transiet ishemic attacks, which are predictive
of an impending stroke.   He has about $200k in
investment assets and in checking accounts (to which we
hold joint title).    We recently purchased a
house jointly in which we reside.

Questions:


1.  When we transferred all of my father's funds 
in to joint checking and investment accounts,
does this start the Medi-Cal clock ticking on the 3 year period
re gift transfers?  If so, since it is a joint account, do
all, or only 1/2, of the funds qualify as a gift?

Do I need a letter from my father indicating that it is a gift?
Would it be better to remove his name entirely 
from the accounts?


2.  We recently purchased a house that we own as joint tennants.
A non-specialist attorney I spoke to 
indicated that there was some case law that set a precedent
such that if the son/daughter of the Medi-Cal recipient is living in the
recipient's house, the government would not force the sale of the house
to recover Medi-Cal long term care costs.
I'm not sure how joint tennancy would affect this, or
if the child must be a minor.   If this is true, it would
make sense for us to put $$ into the house (a remodel, addition, etc.).

If this is not true, would it make sense to 
have my father quit-claim on the house after we
do an addition to it.  (But, that would start another
3-year clock...).  

Thanks.

 -- Mike Mills



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