Quit Claim Deeds

**Martin DeLucia** · 02-18-2008, 05:47 AM

My Grandmother is almost 80. She owns her house outright with no mortgage in CT. 9 years ago she quit claimed 50 percent of her property to me her only grandchild. Now she wants to quit claim the other 50 percent to me. My question is if she does this and gets sick, has to be hospitalized or put in a nursing home will I be responsible for paying for any of the medical bills out of the estate? I thought there was a certain time period after a quit claim that they can go back to pay debts from the persons assetts who would owe medical debts or any other debts. Thankyou- Marty.

**lwpat** · 02-18-2008, 11:00 AM

If she applies for Medicaid they can use the transfer to disqualify her. The state may also be able to make you pay the value of the property toward her care once she does qualify. This is very fact specific and depends on the state.

Sounds like you want the house and then to dump Grandma on the state.

**Martin DeLucia** · 02-18-2008, 11:37 AM

No,I said that she wants to quit claim the other half to me for her own reasons. I never asked her to, so you're saying that I want the house and to dump grandma on the state is way out of line. You should not say things like that when you don't even know the people you are talking about.

**4eyedbuzzard** · 02-18-2008, 12:08 PM

Often people such as Grandma are the one's who want to dump themselves on the state, so that they can pass on their wealth to their heirs without depleting it on nursing homes and medical bills. It's a nice sentiment, but it's often illegal. As such there are often laws that prevent doing so and courts order that assets transferred in anticipation of death, illness, infirmity, etc(usually within a few years) revert back to the estate or individual. IRS does this all the time with asset transfers in anticipation of death(within 3 years). Transferring assets "for her own reasons" won't stand up in court. You'll be ordered to pay.

It's nice that grandma wants to give you the money/house/etc and let the state/fed pay for her care - but it simply may not be legal.

You might want to contact a lawyer experienced in estate planning. There are a lot of legal options that can protect many of her assets by setting up trusts, gifts, and others.

**gigirle** · 02-18-2008, 12:51 PM

The truth is people do protect their assets. Find out what gee-maw's intentions are exactly. An estate attorney will help with this. It sounds like gee-maw is trying to give everything away to keep it out of probate. A trust does this too.