My mom died last month of Covid-19. She jointly owned a house with my dad, who is in a nursing home. His mind is still OK for the most part (very forgetful at times), but he will probably never be able to live alone again.
I want to sell his house (through DPOA) because it is becoming a financial drain. There is not a lot to be gained from the sale for a variety of reasons after all debts and such are paid. No, I will not rent it out. It's a complex situation and I'm not going into all the details here (I do have a good lawyer who I will continue discussing the options with).
I am scares shitless of him becoming disqualified for Medi-CAL because it is paying for his nursing home. If they decide to kick him to the curb, then I'm world-class screwed. I cannot house and care for him. I expended a great amount of time and energy getting my dad and mom on Medi-CAL and failed, failed, failed, until I found a great social worker at the hospital my dad was in. I understand that these applications are a lot easier if someone from a hospital or SNF pushes it through.
From what I understand, he will get kicked off Medi-CAL in a pico-second when funds from the sale of the house hit his account. I understand that this is the case with elderly MediCAL, but the rules are completely different for ACA.
I don't want to go risk him being permanently disqualified from MediCAL because some obscure spend-down rule was inadertently violated or something. However, my dad can't be the first person in this situation, and I don't want to walk away from the sum I/we are likely to get from sale of the house.
I have read that the spend-down rules are pretty broad and that you can even "take a vacation" with the funds. I don't see the point of trying to sell the house if all it means is that we have to pay it all back to the nursing home.
My lawyer is good, but I'm thinking I need to find a specialist in this--someone who eats, breathes, and lives MediCAL.
Any thoughts on how difficult all of this will be--to do the spend-down properly, and re-apply? Has anyone ever done it anywhere (but especially in California)???
Thanks.