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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The legal expectation is that no more than 50% of joint assets in a (intact) marriage needs to be used for care - of the one person.

No need to divorce. Spend-down and document the 50%[/quote]

I believe it is state based. In some states the community spouse can keep the house, but is only allowed a monthly allowance, which frequently doesn't cover all expenses for upkeep of the house, much less themselves. [/quote]

In my state, Medicaid will take assets including SSI, and provide the house (up to X value) and allowance only to the spouse.[/quote]

The community spouse allowance amount is the same across all states even if one applies to their state to receive Medicaid LTC. And the community spouse can remain in the house. IDK what PP means here by "up to X value".[/quote]

I reread what I wrote and it was not clear at all. In many states Medicaid allows the community spouse to keep up to a million in assets. But when you read the fine print, they will let the spouse keep a house that in many areas could have appreciated up to 1M or more. So really, it isn't a case where the community spouse gets to keep 1M worth of assets, they just get to keep the house if it is worth 1M or less. If they have to sell the house, then the proceeds are then subject to Medicaid.

We looked into this for my mom when we were trying to decide what to do for my dad. They didn't have enough to pay for in-home care, or a nursing home. If  Dad went into a Medicaid facility, while my mom could keep the house, the community spouse stipend was not enough to even pay their property taxes, much less her living expenses. They bought the house decades ago when we were kids, but it is in an area that over the years has appreciated wildly.

Basically, there was no good solution for them other than the kids paying for the care out of pocket for in-home for our dad. Once he passed and my mom needed care, we paid for that as well, at-home until she needed even more care. She went to nursing and we sold her home to pay for that.  [/quote]

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