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Under Medicaid rules, a home is an exempt asset during their lifetime. But upon their death becomes a probatable asset of the deceased. The states are required to do estate recovery when feasible to offset the costs the state paid for their care. This is the MERP program. All states have it in place. Just how it runs depends on your states death, property & probate laws. The property - unless family can file & document for the many exemptions, hardships or exclusion under MERP rules - will have a claim or a lien on it. It is critically important that you respond to any MERP letters ASAP and file your exemptions otherwise MERP semmsvto view the claim as valid by default. MERP in many states has been outsourced and the approach is more that of a debt collector so they get a % of the recovery. Interest can be placed on the amount of the lien or claim too. Seems to be 9% but varies by state.
MERP is indicated within the Medicaid application. If you apply for Medicaid you accept the rules of the program whatever they are. Your elder did not have to apply for Medicaid. But if she did she agreed to the terms of the program. For my moms application and annual renewal, it is clearly indicated within its own box and the applicant or their representative do NOT have to sign off on it. It is an acknowledgement of agreement for participation.
The claim or lien will sit on the property till the debt is settled. You will be unable to sell, get a heloc or any other $ that looks to the property as collateral. The title companies will find the MERP claim or lien so a buyer is toast on being able to get title insurance which means the property is unsaleable to anyone who needs a mortgage to buy it. If u sell it via a quit claim, the buyer can come back to you for the sale $$ & perhaps even lost opportunity costs if you did not disclose the MERP claim or lien. Basically You eventually have to deal with MERP to get the claim or lien "lifted" so the property has a clean clear title. You might as well contact them on the letter address and find out what the amount is and if you have any ability to do a late exemption. Good luck.
But if mom still alive, living at her home or in a nh but still has her home, and mom is on Medicaid, then her home is subject to a future MERP action. She would have had to legally sold, transferred or gifted the home to you 5 years before ever applying for Medicaid. Once on Medicaid, MERP is required to be done. House being willed to you is fine, but a will is subject to probate. So any claims or liens on the estate have to be resolved before assess can be transferred by probate judge.
All of the states are now at the point where some sort of MERP system is in place. Probate courts are more aware as are title companies. Often realtors don't know the full extent of MERP and how it totally can queer a sale.
The biggest change with MERP is that many states have outsourced it. No more a state employee doing it at whatever pace for their hourly wage no matter what the result. The contractors -2 main ones- are very very good at actively & legally enforcing the claim or lien and they make a % of the recovery.
If mom has a home, you need to figure out if there is a reasonable MERP exclusion, exemption or hardship that exists to make having the property become yours feasible AND have the documentation to support your exclusions, etc. If not, with the costs of NH & medical care paid by medicaid, it is likely you will not inherit the home. No matter what the will reads unfortunately.
If she goes on Medicaid, she has to list her assets and all finances for the last five years. They DO ask what she owns or gave away. Read the whole thing.
Like how does the tax assessor bill read? That usually is going to be who the state considers the owner to be.
If it reads your mom's name (or a life estate for her in some states) and she already has applied for & has Medicaid paying for her care if she is over 55, then the state is required to attempt to do estate recovery (MERP) to recoup the costs that the state's Medicaid program is paying for.
If you apply for & take Medicaid, you accept it's terms. Whether it means having prescriptions done as generic in 90 day pack or having the possibility a MERP claim or a lien on your assets after death (your home).
But if the house is in your name, (and has been for more than 5 years prior to mom's Medicaid application), then MERP cannot do anything as the house is not an asset of mom's.
Really get all the paperwork on the house and the letters your parent has received and go see an elder law attorney to clearly find out just what the situation is.
Medicaid does not have any rights to the house if it never belonged to your mother. I suspect that she listed that property as belonging to her on some form. Or is her name very similar to yours? In any case, see a lawyer and get this straightened out.