Estate Recovery: Can Medicaid Take Your House After You Die?
Watch on YouTube After a Medicaid recipient age fifty-five or older dies, the state is legally required to try to recover what it spent on long-term care from that person’s estate. This is the Medicaid Estate Recovery Program, and for millions of families it comes as a devastating surprise. This episode explains exactly what the state can claim, what protections block recovery, how hardship waivers work, and the legal tools (irrevocable trusts, Lady Bird deeds, caretaker-child transfers) that can protect the family home when planned in advance. Always verify rules with your state Medicaid agency, Medicaid.gov, or an elder-law attorney. Watch the next video in the playlist for the Medicaid waivers episode covering home and community-based services.
▶ Watch next: Medicaid Waivers: Staying Home Instead of a Nursing Home https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGM_fkxVPTY
📺 Full playlist: Medicaid (US - 2026) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlIAFxS29649JfKT2uWUj5JKZqmduWdyo
Chapters
After a Medicaid recipient age 55 or older dies, federal law requires the state to attempt to recover the cost of nursing home care, home and community-based services, and related medical expenses from the deceased person's estate. This is the Medicaid Estate Recovery Program, or MERP — often called the "Medicaid clawback." The state can file a claim against the estate or place a lien on the home. For families who assumed they would inherit a parent's house, this comes as a devastating surprise. But there are protections: recovery cannot happen while a surviving spouse, a child under 21, or a blind/disabled child of any age is alive. And there are legal strategies — done in advance — that can shield the home.
Key Topics
- What MERP is: states must seek reimbursement from the estate for Medicaid long-term care costs paid after age 55
- What the state can recover: nursing facility costs, HCBS costs, and related hospital and prescription drug services
- The home is the primary target: the state files a claim against the estate or places a lien on the property
- Protections that block recovery: surviving spouse, child under 21, blind or disabled child, sibling with equity interest who lived in the home for 1+ year before the recipient entered the facility
- Hardship waivers: states must have a process to waive recovery in cases of undue hardship (income thresholds, small estates)
- State-by-state variation: Texas skips estates under ten thousand dollars, Georgia skips under twenty-five thousand dollars; some states define "estate" broadly (including joint accounts, life estates) while others use probate-only
- Legal strategies to protect the home: irrevocable trusts (must be funded 5+ years before applying), life estate deeds, Lady Bird deeds (in states that recognize them), and transfer to a caretaker child