Full question:
My father is on Social Security and Medicaid. He is currently paying a mortgage and his name is the only name on the mortgage. If my name along with my brother's names are added to the mortgage, if in the future my dad or either one of us has a medical problem that has high medical bills, can someone take the home from all 3 of us to pay the bills of one of us?
- Category: Real Property
- Subcategory: Deeds
- Date:
- State: Pennsylvania
Answer:
The ability to recover medical bills from a home depends on ownership interests, not just the mortgage names. Typically, creditors can only claim a joint tenant's share of the property. However, adding names to the mortgage may be treated as a gift, which can affect tax implications, such as losing the step-up in basis at death and potential capital gains taxes. Additionally, if the property is not the principal residence of the new owners, they may not qualify for capital gains exclusion.
Medicaid has a 60-month lookback period to review any gifts made before a Medicaid application. This means they can assess transfers to determine if they should be included in the applicant's estate for recovery purposes.
This content is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Legal statutes mentioned reflect the law at the time the content was written and may no longer be current. Always verify the latest version of the law before relying on it.