What if the Medicaid Applicant’s Family is Living at Home?

If a family member is living in the home, New Jersey Medicaid has a policy of not forcing the sale but, again, someone other than the applicant must pay the taxes, insurance, maintenance etc. on the home.  This remains an option, however, for holding onto the home.  When the Medicaid recipient dies, the New Jersey will place a lien on the home (more on that in a few days) which will be paid when the house is sold.

Where there is no family member living in the home, the house will need to be listed for sale.  Medicaid will approve the application while the sale is pending or if no buyer has yet been found.  Producing a realtor’s listing agreement will be suffiicnt.  The New Jersey Medicaid office does not typically check back with us to see whether it has been sold and doesn’t take a position that the house needs to be sold for a specific dollar amount.  In some cases it is actually better to get Medicaid and then later complete the sale.  If, for example, the sale doesn’t occur until 6 months after Medicaid is approved and the recipient then dies the State must receive back what it paid out in Medicaid benefits but this usually is less than what would have been paid to the nursing home on a private pay basis.