Will Texas Medicaid Take Parents House After They Pass Away?

Apr 19, 2010
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Texas Medicaid Rules
by: Gabriel Heiser

Under federal law and that of most states, once a person dies who had Medicaid coverage in the nursing home, the state must attempt to recoup every dollar it spent paying for the deceased person's nursing home care. At a minimum, the state must file a claim against the deceased person's "probate estate," i.e., assets titled in the sole name of the deceased person. A few states can also go after joint assets, life estates, etc., in which the deceased Medicaid recipient had a legal interest.

Thus, assuming your father never needs Medicaid coverage, it is important to transfer all of your mother's interest in the house to your father. Then, if he survives your mother, the state will be out of luck, since your mother will not own any part of the house upon her death.

If your father predeceases your mother, it gets more complicated: he won't be able simply to bypass your mother by leaving the entire interest in the house to his children, because by law your mother would be entitled to a percentage of his estate. If all passes to the children, then it's deemed a gift from your mother to the children, causing her to be disqualified from Medicaid for some period of time. As you see, it starts to get very complicated; now you see why I devote an entire chapter of my book to dealing with how to protect the house!

You can find my book at Medicaid Secrets.

Of course, you must verify the current state of Texas Medicaid rules before making such a transfer, since I am not a Texas attorney and can't provide you with legal advice.

Good luck with everything!

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Apr 19, 2010
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Submitted by: Gabriel Heiser

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Under federal law and that of most states, once a person dies who had Medicaid coverage in the nursing home, the state must attempt to recoup every dollar it spent paying for the deceased person's nursing home care. At a minimum, the state must file a claim against the deceased person's "probate estate," i.e., assets titled in the sole name of the deceased person. A few states can also go after joint assets, life estates, etc., in which the deceased Medicaid recipient had a legal interest. Thus, assuming your father never needs Medicaid coverage, it is important to transfer all of your mother's interest in the house to your father. Then, if he survives your mother, the state will be out of luck, since your mother will not own any part of the house upon her death. If your father predeceases your mother, it gets more complicated: he won't be able simply to bypass your mother by leaving the entire interest in the house to his children, because by law your mother would be entitled to a percentage of his estate. If all passes to the children, then it's deemed a gift from your mother to the children, causing her to be disqualified from Medicaid for some period of time. As you see, it starts to get very complicated; now you see why I devote an entire chapter of my book to dealing with how to protect the house! You can find my book at <a href = "http://www.medicaidsecrets.com/" target="new">Medicaid Secrets</a>. Of course, you must verify the current state of Texas Medicaid rules before making such a transfer, since I am not a Texas attorney and can't provide you with legal advice. Good luck with everything!

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Will Texas Medicaid Take Parents House After They Pass Away?

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Will Texas Medicaid Take Parents House After They Pass Away?