Don’t Give Your Home to MassHealth
This is why I love my job: I get to help people like the mother and daughter who met with me yesterday. The mother (“Mom”) is concerned about her home and assets, if she eventually has to go into a nursing home. Mom wants to save her home from the nursing home bill, so she can give her children the house as an inheritance. She authorized me to prepare a deed conveying her home to a MassHealth qualified irrevocable trust.
Because this deed to the trust is treated as a gift by MassHealth, Mom must sign this deed at least five years before she goes into a nursing home. If, within five years from the date Mom signs the deed, Mom goes into a nursing home, the house must be deeded back to Mom, which risks the loss of the children’s inheritance.
Advice: If you want to preserve your home for your beneficiaries, sign this type of trust and sign the deed conveying your home to this trust more than five years before you might have to enter a nursing home.