Over the past year, you may have heard about Medicaid recovery against a deceased nursing home patient’s jointly held property, retained life estates and interests in trusts. 2011 state legislation, administrative directives and emergency regulations expanded the definition of the “estate” that was subject to recovery by Medicaid to non-probate assets. That law was recently repealed by the New York 2012-2013 budget bill.
Now non-probate assets may not be considered as part of the decedent’s estate for recovery purposes. There may be recovery only against the probate estate of a decedent who received Medicaid benefits during his or her lifetime. The probate estate is comprised of assets that are in the name of the decedent alone with no named beneficiary.
Non-probate assets are those that have a named beneficiary or pass by operation of law, such as joint bank accounts, in trust for (ITF) accounts, payable upon death (POD) accounts, transfer upon death (TOD) accounts, life estates in real property, trust accounts, or life insurance.
If you or a family member need assistance with medicaid law call me at (716) 542-5444.
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