Should My Mother Gift a House She Inherited to Me

[menke442]

My question involves estate proceedings in the state of: MO

Short version:
My mom, almost 65 yrs old, was the only living child when my grandma died in Jan., 2011. She is executor of grandma's estate and has inherited grandma's house. Will/house has been in probate for almost a year now (April, 2011.) My mom moved to a senior apt. living community in Jan. 2012, due to her not being able to afford the utilities and her own personal bills every month, not to mention homeowner's ins and real estate taxes. She receives slightly less than 700.00 per month for ss/ssi. She currently is on Medicaid. Not sure of the details of that.

Anyway, my mom wants to "gift" the house to me after probate is over with and put the house in my name so she won't lose her Medicaid benefits. But I was just reading on another website that Medicaid has a "look-back period." I don't know if this is only for when you go to apply for benefits or for when you need to requalify.

I don't want to do anything illegal nor do I want her to lose her benefits. Does anyone have any ideas or have you dealt with this before? Our goal is to rent the house out asap. We were going to go through HUD/section 8, but are not quite sure right now as the house is technically stiiiiilllll in grandma's name. Willing to rent to random stranger right now. lol

thanks in advance!!

[jsmith281]

You can always call Medicaid to find out,you dont have to disclose your or your mother 's identity

[jsmith281]

here is a discussion on Medicaid recipient coming into money-
http://www.lifemanagement.com/nsa15.1.1818/

[Mr. Knowitall]

If your mother is receiving Medicaid, inherits a house (obviously not her homestead) and gives it away, she can expect that Medicaid will nonetheless treat the entire value of the house as an asset for purposes of her Medicaid eligibility.

We don't know anything about the estate or who would inherit the house in the event that your mother declines the inheritance; it may be possible for her to take that approach, but at this point we have no reason to believe that the house will go to you. It would make sense for your mother to discuss her options with an estate planning lawyer.

[menke442]

She already has an attorney since the house had to go through probate court. We didn't know grandma's will had to be submitted to the courts years ago. Anyway, grandma and mom had lived together for over 20 yrs.

We are going to make an appt. on Monday to discuss all of this with her attorney. Thanks to everyone for your replies!