There comes a time when many residents in Massachusetts need to utilize one of the many emergency assistance programs that exist for elderly individuals who require long term care. When determining eligibility, needs based public benefits rely on three criteria: age and disabilities, assets, and income levels. The state allows a personal residence and certain income to be excluded from countable assets or income when making this determination. That is not to say that MassHealth will not attempt to recoup what they have contributed towards long-term care from those assets excluded for determining eligibility. The MassHealth program is very aggressive in liening the recipients property or the probate estate of the decedent recipient.
A MassHealth lien has no termination date and the new rules have extended the look-back period from 3 years to 5 years. This means that MassHealth will attempt to find a gift from an elderly recipient of MassHealth within the 5 year look-back period, and then force a return of the funds. There are some exceptions where transfers are permissible within the look-back period (transfers between spouses being the most common one), but they are extremely limited and specific.
As was mentioned before, the lien has no termination date and can only be released by MassHealth. If the residence is sold at any point, the lion’s share of the proceeds will go to paying back MassHealth. There are several ways to protect your home from a potential MassHealth lien and it is for this reason that consulting a competent estate planning attorney, before you or a loved one requires long-term care, is important.
