Another question regarding primary residence and A&A

[vigmar]

I have been reading this forum to get lots of great info. I very much appreciate all the work that has gone in to this website to provide families with help in dealing with the VA.

 I have read all the posts regarding primary residences and I am still not quite sure where my parents stand. If anyone can give us any  additional  advice/info I would greatly appreciate it!!

Here is our situation:

My father a WWII veteran lives in an ALF for Alzheimer's patients. He qualified for $1500 a month in A&A benefits and has been receiving that money for almost a year now. (YES!!! we battled the VA for over ONE FULL YEAR to finally receive these benefits as he was initially denied and we appealed..........that is another long story for another post>>>>but just remember DON"T give up when dealing with the VA!!!)

Anyway, my mother has continued to live in their primary residence while my father has been living in the ALF.

My mom would now like to sell her home so that she can move to a senior apt. to be closer to my dad and to her adult children/grandchildren.
The senior apt is going to be much more expensive than her mortgage($1200 vs.$400). The profit she would get from selling her house would be about $150,000.

So our questions are:

Can she keep the profit from the sale of her house or does it now count as assets for my father per VA regulations? (She will need this money to live in the senior apt.)

Would she be able to keep $75,000 and would $75,000 go to my dad or does the entire $150,000 go toward my dad's care? (We live in CA a community property state)

Can my mom remove my dad from the title of the home before she sells it?
(As his daughter I hold both his POA and his fiduciary through VA) From what I understand she could have done this before he received A&A with no "look back" policy...........is she still able to do it now?

I have seen both a special provisions trust and a grantor trust mentioned............ can someone explain what exactly those entail?

Does anyone know where in the VA manual I can find this info regarding the  sale of a primary residence and A&A................I have looked but I am unable to locate it.

Finally, does anyone out there have any suggestions on how we can best handle this situation?

The money that my Dad receives from the VA does not cover the cost of his ALF>>>>>>>Both my mom and I, as well as my two sisters all contribute financially to his care. We just want my mom to be able to retain her money for her own living expenses as well as for my dad's care.

THank you very much for any help that you can give us.

[veteranadvocate]

The following link will take you to the VA's manual and the section that covers what is counted as income for the purpose of VA Pensions.  Look down the table of contents for 'sale of property'.

Improved Pension – Counting Specific Types of Income

http://www.warms.vba.va.gov/admin21/m21_1/mr/part5/subptiii/ch01/ch01_seci.doc

The following information is from the Code of Federal Regulations and discusses 'profit from sale of property'

38 CFR 3.272

(e) Profit from sale of property. Profit realized from the disposition of real or personal property other than in the course of business, except amounts received in excess of the sales price, for example, interest on deferred sales is included as income. In installment sales, any payments received until the sales price is recovered are not included as income, but any amounts received which exceed the sales price are included, regardless of whether they represent principal or interest. 


Hope this information will address your questions.