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Do you own your home? Do you own it but also carry a mortgage?
Do you hope to leave your family home to a family member someday?

Do you now pay for medical insurance? Have you ALWAYS paid for medical insurance? If you answered yes to that question this information may not pertain to you.

However if you now own a home, or own one with a mortgage and have some equity, or own a business, and DO NOT pay for medical insurance, this is vital information to know and research about, in your own State.

People get jobs, buy medical insurance, and buy homes. Life changes may happen, jobs may be lost, but they still maintain that mortgage payment. Even if some have to collect Social Security before retirement age, most try to maintain that mortgage payment and keep the family homestead.

Now, If they are collecting Social Security benefits before retirement age, they may be on their State's D.H.H.S. Medical Program to help with Dr. visits and hospital visits. Of course we are "Forced" to have insurance. Many join their State Medical Program to show they have insurance and to avoid that fine on their taxes each year for not having insurance. But no matter how difficult their lives may be, they still make their mortgage payments.

So why does this matter? I have a friend, who's been with my sister for 19 years. He is a self contractor who installs carpets. I mention this only because he filed taxes each year as a carpet installer. They were never married. He has a daughter that lived with them both for many of those years and is now in her early thirty's. Last year they helped HER buy a house. Now, he was working.. but hurting so he had to collect Maine Care while he worked. So when they went to apply for the house, he kept that Estate Recovery Agreement in the Maine Care Manual in his mind. He made sure he had nothing to do with the house... signature wise. I checked the deed and the mortgage paperwork, All in his daughter's name.

I have to hand it to him, he knew to do that for his daughter. They all moved into the new home and within a year he started having serious medical issues. He ended up needing a pacemaker. So that was done. Then covid hit.

He was considered "high risk" his Dr. told him and scheduled him an appointment for the vaccine shot. I drove up to see them both to show them why they should not take the vaccine but his Dr. knew better than my proof. They both took the first shot. I went back up and tried again that very morning of their second appointment. He went anyway and took my sister with him. I have his vaccination card and his death certificate. He died 30 days after the second Pfizer Shot of Myocardial Infraction, heart disease.

So while I'm going through bills for Probate Court, his daughter gets a claim in for $386,051.93 dollars from the State for Maine. This bill was the full amount that Mainecare had paid out for Walter's many surgeries, while on Mainecare. That is not a misprint! Close to Four Hundred Thousand Dollars.

Why would they send that? I believe they think he owned a Carpet Business, which he did not. It was just him and my sister. However, even if he didn't own a business... If he had owned a home, this would still be in play. The State wanted his "home" that he didn't "own."
That didn't happen in probate court, once the deed was shown.

I have an ex-wife, who's brother was in a bad accident. He took his very large settlement and paid cash for his house. When he passed away he left the house to his sister. She has $3,000.00 a year in taxes to pay. The house is all paid for. However, she is also on Social Security and has been on Maine Care for years. She has been in and out of the hospital for years with several operations. With the cost of hospital visits I can imagine how much she may owe Mainecare. I'm thinking enough to take her home. She is still alive and on Mainecare for her COPD and breathing issues. So who really owns her house?

She thought she'd leave it to her grand children. She will, we'll fix that. But her issue is easy. All paid for home. Put another name on the deed, take yours off as soon as you can. The Maine manual asks "Have you given away anything in the past three months?" However, In Maine There Is A FIVE YEAR LOOK BACK. I am assuming anything you may do has to be done at least five years before you pass on, so time is important.

I have helped several family members and friends with Probate court after a loved one has passed. I have learned a lot, but never enough. To be honest every case was different and this is the first time I have heard of the State sending a bill to the person taking care of the will. I wondered why.

My mother knew. She was on Housing, Mainecare and Social Security but gave us whatever items each of us wanted, two years before she passed. She had no will. She knew of that Estate clause. It said they could lock us out until inventory was taken. She was on housing so perhaps they could. That was probably in case she collected Picasso's I told her. That never happened but who knew? She didn't own anything. They knew that. No bill was ever sent to us.

My mother-in-law passes. She was a nurse for many years. She too ended up on Social Security, Mainecare and Housing. No bill was ever sent.

If you look at the manual, You start to think that it was written to systematically take every homeowner's property as soon as the person in the home, who it is willed to or later purchased by, falls into the Maine Care scheme.

So please take a look at the Maine Estate Recovery Manual I have on these pages. My website pages have JPG's for the manual pages but you can print off a copy in PDF form if you'd like. The Link will be on each page.

If your not from Maine, I would bet your own State's Estate Recovery Manual is not much different. I would check and ask for a copy.

I wish I knew how to show you how to save your homes. I guess a real estate Attorney might know.

If you own it you should be able to replace the name on the deed. Remember to let the family members know how to keep their home and pass it down, in case Social Security happens early in life for them.

I did help a friend who had a brother and mother, living in the same home. When she died I asked him how his bother got the house. He told me she had him put on the deed. When she passed, he automatically owned the house. However, he was a vet and had medical insurance through the VA. When he passed away, I learned a bit more.

For example: He had taken a loan out from his Credit Union to remodel the bathroom. He was in a wheel chair now and needed that done. So that was done and a loan amount was owed. His younger brother stopped in to let the Credit Union know his brother had passed away.

Imagine their surprise when they found out later, the Credit Union took all their loan money from his checking account that very day, leaving nothing in his account! So I guess that can happen. Do not notify the Bank or Credit Union until your ready to make decisions on any money in the accounts.

Probate Costs. Here in Maine they are 10% of the total amount you put down that the deceased has left behind. Probate asked if his brother owned a house, we said yes. The cost of the probate filing was thousands of dollars. I spoke up and said, "wait a minute.. the bank really owns it." There is no equity left. That helped. We came up with a couple of thousand in equity, which cost hundreds instead of thousands to file in Probate Court. Was that a win? Not Really. He had to pay from his own pocket due to having no money in his brother's Credit Union Account.

So his poor brother had to wait until the house was sold before they could afford to place him in the ground. He sold the house. Think he made $6,000.00 off the sale, which was used to take care of his brothers remains. I Never asked why the VA didn't step in.

It was a learning experience. Check with your own DHHS Office for
a copy of their Medicaid Estate Recovery.

Please Share This Information With Your Family Members and Friends.

Q - WHICH STATES HAVE MEDICARE ESTATE RECOVERY?

A - ALL STATES

I Notice The "Fact Checks" All Say "Don't Worry, They Won't
Take Your Home." That Is FALSE. They Wait Until ALL The People
On The Deed Have Died. Then They React.

Click To See Maine's Estate Recovery Manual