Typically when a person receives medicaid, the Department of Social Services will collect assets from that person’s estate after that person dies equal to what Medicaid has paid on that person’s behalf during their lifetime. This collection is called a Medicaid recovery, and can sometimes wipe out a person’s entire estate, and even the home they had lived in. Careful planning can often avoid some or most of the Medicaid recovery. Transferring the home to a spouse or child, or to a special trust called an irrevocable income-only trust, can sometimes shelter the home from Medicaid recovery and preserve it for a Medicaid recipient’s family.
