Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Pennsylvania

Is Mom still living? If so, selling the house and putting the money into her account probably will disqualify her for a period of time from receiving medicaid to pay the nursing home. The proceeds of the house sale will be used up pretty quickly. Who advised that the house should be sold in this way?

If anything is left in the account when she dies, yes, her estate will have to be probated and administered before you and your brother can share whatever is left.

Your mother really should have had the advice of an Elder Law lawyer, to help avoid this kind of problem.

I do not practice Elder Law, which is a very specialized area. Find a lawyer who is a member of NAELA [National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys]. You can look them up on-line.

THIS RESPONSE IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE, SINCE I DO NOT HAVE ALL OF THE INFORMATION THAT WOULD BE REQUIRED, AND I DO NOT HAVE A REPRESENTATION AGREEMENT WITH YOU.

* If the answers to your question confirm that you have a valid issue or worthwhile claim, your next step should almost always be to establish a dialog with a lawyer who can provide specific advice to you. Contact a lawyer in your county or township.

* Another reason for contacting a lawyer is that it is often impossible to give a good answer in the Internet Q&A format without having more information. The unique circumstances of your situation and things that you may not have thought to mention in your question may completely change the answer. If you want to be sure that you have a complete answer to your question and an understanding of what that answer means, establish a connection with a lawyer who practices in the area of your concern.

I agree with what Attorney Jacobson has said. I question why you were "required" to sell your mother's home now. Usually the home does not count for Medicaid purposes. After your mother passed away, Medicaid would have to be reimbursed though.

Medicaid has certain rules. A person who needs it for nursing care cannot have above a certain level of assets in order to qualify. By selling the home now, your mother is now ineligible for Medicaid and will have to spend down most of this money.

It sounds like a payable on death (POD) bank account was created. Any money remaining in the account upon your mother's death might be a non-probate asset. If this is all that she owned at the time of death, I am not sure that any estate would need probated. But it would depend on her other assets and debts, so you would have to consult a probate attorney once your mother passes. While you should have consulted an elder law attorney before the home was sold, I would encourage you to do so now to make the most of what your mother has and see if putting the funds in a bank account is really the way to go.

If your mother has already passed, then you need to consult with a probate attorney just to see whether it makes sense to probate an estate. You will have to pay inheritance taxes.