How Joint Accounts are Treated for Houston Nursing Home Medicaid
This is the first in a series of posts that will examine certain types of assets that families have to deal with when pursuing eligibility for Houston Nursing Home Medicaid benefits. For every asset available to the Houston Medicaid applicant there are two critical questions that you must know the answer to:
- Is the asset counted as a resource of the applicant for Houston Nursing Home Medicaid benefits; and
- If it is counted as a resource, how much of the value of the asset is counted against the applicant?
At first thought, many people believe a joint account is either not counted against the applicant for Houston Nursing Home Medicaid benefits or at worst is only counted at 50% of its value. In reality, the rules are quite different.
If an applicant has a joint bank account and can legally withdraw funds from it, all the funds in the account are considered a resource of the applicant for Houston Medicaid benefits. However, this is only a presumption, your Houston Medicaid Attorney is allowed an opportunity to prove that some or all of the funds are the property of someone else.
For example, if a parent and child own a joint bank account the presumption is the entire balance is available as a resource if the parent applies for Houston Nursing Home Medicaid benefits. However, if the child contributed funds to the account and never expected the parent to use those funds, then you have the opportunity to have less than the full value of the account counted against the parent. It is important to remember the issue will ultimately be decided by a judge and you must be able to prove your claims. Simple statements are often insufficient proof.
Your Houston Medicaid Attorney can help your family determine what assets will be counted against an applicant for Houston Nursing Home Medicaid benefits while also building a case to protect as many assets as legally possible.