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 answer depends on the ownership interests in the house, rather than the names on the mortgage. Typically, medical bills may only by recovered from the value of a joint tenant's proportional interest in property. However, by creating a joint tenancy in this manner, the person assuming joint ownership has received a gift and loses the step-up in basis at death. Capital gains taxes may have to be paid. Also, if the property is not the principal residence of the new tenant, the capital gains exclusion cannot be used either.
It is possible for transfers to be ignored and included in the patient's estate for Medicaid recovery purposes. Medicaid looks back 60 months from the date of a Medicaid application to determine whether you have made any gifts. The lookback period is only an audit period during which time Medicaid has the right to review all of the financial records of the applicant.
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.
