house not selling

[gflem]

Mom (widow) wants to sell her home.

Her house is exempt, but when she does sell the house, she will have too much money to qualify for benefits. 

We are waiting for the house to sell.  When it sell, we will give the money to the adult children and she can qualify for VA benefits. 

Are there any alternatives to just waiting for the house to sell (in a slow market)?

[veteranadvocate]

I would recommend talking to an 'Elder Law Attorney'.  They would know about possilbe trust funds and/or other avenues.  Not sure if she would be able to sign over the house to the adult children now and they can split the proceeds when the house is sold.  Run this by the 'Elder Law Attorney'.

Please let us know how it works out because I am sure others may face the same situation.

[Daugher of Vet]

Our elder attorney told us Medicaid looks back 5 years. If Mom needs to move from assisted living to a nursing home within the next 5 years...the sale of the house money would be looked into. We could not afford to pay the nursing home even with the A&A benefit and her social security so she would need a medicaid bed.

The attorney advised us to hold onto it for now and re-visit  him if our situation changes.

Also, the attorney said in our our state, the amount of a lien against the house to repay the state for nursing home would be $2300 (currently) whereas a home would be $5000 or more. So when the house is sold, we would owe $2300 x months in a nursing home....as opposed to the $5000 x months in nursing home we would be paying from any house proceeds

Apparently state laws vary...and they change.

Without a crystal ball...we are erroring on the side of caution.....not  selling the house and doing any thing questionable. We were also advised to save every single receipt for 5 years in case finances are questioned.

[Daugher of Vet]

Another thought....it seems like every month there are new needs....medicine, doctor visits, personal care items, etc.

In assisted living, I can see where we may need to ramp up the services we are paying for....ie bathing and dressing are not currently provided.

The house is the last asset we will have to sell...or rent.... should things change and we spend down what cash she does have and we still have a cash flow gap of some type.

Once health declines...there can be lots of surprises.