Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Georgia
Three years ago my mother placed her house in my sister's name and mine. She wanted to do this in the event she became ill and allowing her to use medicaid. However, she can no longer claim homestead exemption thus we are paying higher taxes with the home in our name. At this point, should we add her name at the bottom of the deed as Life Estate or leave it as is? I understand there is a five year waiting period to be eligible for Medicaid. As it stands she will have to wait two years more to be eligible or if we add it to Life Estate she will have to wait five more years to become elibible for medicaid if necessary.
Thank you!
3 Answers from Attorneys
You asked the question before, and you received a response. If you want to continue risking your mother's assets by transferring title back and forth and making other huge mistakes, you can keep on doing what you are doing. No one here knows a thing about your mother's situation beyond a couple sentences from you. The solution is simple. If you care about your mother's future care, you will help her see an elder care lawyer to review all of her affairs and come up with a plan. If you don't, you won't. One day will be too late to fix the problems you create by trying to do it yourself.
You would be well advised to recommend that your mother employ an elderlaw attorney. The fees that she will incur will be worth the peace of mind that her assets are protected. Furthermore, she may be eligible for assistance that she is not aware of and an elderlaw attorney will determine that.
You asked the question before, and you received a response. That response has not changed. If you want to continue risking your mother's assets by transferring title back and forth and making other huge mistakes, ignore the last answer. You have already made some mistakes that cannot be fixed, and are about to make things worse by continuing not to use an elder attorney (and every deed you do will push Medicaid eligibility off another 5 years).