Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Only if you don't make the payments.

Elderly people who accept certain kinds of public assistance such as Medi-Cal must place all their property in play as possible sources of repayment of the public funding that pays for their health care. Sometimes the authorities resort to seizing and selling their real estate. So, there is some risk.

However, when an item of real estate owned by a Medi-Cal beneficiary amounts to a 50% interest in a joint tenancy with someone else, there is a practical problem in enforcing the lien. Namely, there isn't a booming market for half interests in real estate where the co-owner (you) will be a complete stranger. They can't (with one exception) go after your half interest. That leaves the creditor agency with a practical problem.

The one exception is that if the co-owner (here, you) obtained their half interest in some sort of sweetheart deal, where their half interest was acquired for less than fair market value (as, perhaps, in an effort to make it less attractive to go after the property for the Medi-Cal debt), the courts will treat the deal as a fraudulent attempt to avoid creditors under the California Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (Civil Code sections 3439 et seq.) and set aside the transfer or give the state other remedies against the two of you.