Mother had a will and will go through probate, will Medicaid put a lien on my inheritance for payment of past hospital expenses, etc? Can I set up a trust to prevent this?
It is a little confusing as to who receives or received Medicaid. You, your mother or both? If it was your mother then the state has a recovery right that needs to be addressed. Since you are a disabled child and a transfer of the assets to you during your mother's life would not have resulted in a penalty, they MIGHT negotiate to allow the transfer to you. If you are the one on Medicaid, a living trust isn't going to help much if you want to stay on Medicaid since under federal law living trusts are treated as available assets. Once you receive the distribution from the estate, you would be over resourced and lose your Medicaid unless the court or a conservator assigns them to a special needs trust, or you establish an account with a pooled trust into which you deposit the funds. Any way you look at it you will need the services of an elder law attorney to either do the probate or consult with the probate attorney handling your mother's estate.
You should definitely set up a Living Trust for your OWN Estate Plan. However, Medicaid will have a lien against any assets of the deceased person for whom Medicaid paid expenses. See .Com under Find-A-Lawyer. Enter 'Estate Planning' and 'Prospect CT' and it will list for you several to choose from. Good Luck on this !!
Attorney Potter is correct. You should do some estate planning of your own to prevent or at least minimize potential future claims against your own estate given that you are receiving disability...particularly if you are now getting any Medicaid benefits or may access Medicaid benefits in the future.
As for your mother's situation, with her having passed and the estate now being probated, if she used Medicaid benefits then there is a likelihood that Medicaid will make a claim against her estate. You haven't mentioned your mother having a living spouse, so if she passed away as a single person (single or widow), then it would be too late to prevent funds having to be used to pay whatever Medicaid claim might exist. Nevertheless, depending on the precise circumstances here, you might be able to claim a hardship waiver of collection. Such a circumstance might be whether your state will waive a Medicaid claim against the home, for instance, if you or another dependent are living in the property. If this sounds like something that might be applicable, then I recommend you consult with an elder law attorney in your local area for advice. I wish you the best of luck with this situation.
