This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News and other Hearst Newspapers on September 25, 2018. In order to qualify for nursing home Medicaid, any Texas resident must be 1) 65 or older, or blind or disabled, 2) demonstrate medical necessity, 3) have proper citizenship or immigration status, 4) have income below Medicaid’s cut-off, and 5) have countable assets below Medicaid’s cut-off. You say you own mineral rights, but do not have any surface rights to the same

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express-News and other Hearst Newspapers on July 2, 2018. DIY tools are not sophisticated enough for important legal issues Dear Mr. Premack: Situation: I have been divorced from Robert for over twenty years. We share an adult son, are very civil to each other, and I even still own a fifty-percent share of the house we had before the divorce. Robert now has dementia and needs to live in a memory care facility. About ten years ago,

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News on May 4, 2018. Dear Mr. Premack: If a Marital Property Agreement exists and finances have not been co-mingled, can the assets of one spouse be considered when the other spouse needs to apply for Medicaid assistance or is there a way to keep them from being considered or sheltered? – SS In this context, we are talking about using Medicaid to pay the costs of nursing home care for a qualified senior. In order to qualif

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News on April 13, 2018. Dear Mr. Premack: My mother recently had her Will drawn up by an attorney. She gave him the name she has used for years, which is on her social security card, on her marriage license, on her bank accounts, and on her house title. Now that name is on her Will. I was at her house and found a copy of her birth certificate, and it lists a different first name (her birth certificate says “Eleanor Bonnie”

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News on March 30, 2018. Your father died with a Will. The Will should, if properly written, nominate an Executor to handle the estate. The Will should, if properly written, allow the Executor discretion to sell any real estate so long as the net proceeds are used to fulfill the terms of the Will. The Executor is not restricted by MERP, since MERP has dropped its claim against the estate. MERP does not file any type of lien

This column appeared in the San Antonio Express-News on January 5, 2018. Dear Mr. Premack: My grandmother made me a 25% heir of her estate in her Will. Three daughters with her first husband were left the other 75%. My mother, who had a different father, was not included as an heir. Grandmother died in late November 2017. After the funeral, I found out my aunt, who was Agent in my Grandmother’s Durable Power of Attorney, signed a Lady Bird Deed on my grandmother’s house and a

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News on November 14, 2017. Dear Mr. Premack: Our widowed mom was in a nursing home on Medicaid. She died this July. Her Will leaves her house to all her children. Last month MERP sent me a claim letter stating they will file a claim against the estate. We did not filed a hardship application. MERP has a contractor (HMS) that does their recovery and they are not being reasonable to our needs. They want private information l

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News on May 5, 2017. The House passed H.R. 1628, the American Health Care Act of 2017, on May 4 and sent the bill to the Senate. Various Republican Senators have said that they find the bill to be unacceptable, that they will propose something different, and that they will not be in a rush. Hence, H.R. 1628 is likely to be stopped or significantly changed by the Senate. You said that you tried to actually read H.R. 1628. T

This column first appeared in the San Antonio Express News on February 14, 2017. January 16 column. Can you provide us with any of the pros- or cons-, and how such a change to this ultimate safety net could affect Seniors of modest means? – PS Currently, Medicaid’s nursing home program is a joint federal-state program. The federal government sets standards for patients to qualify for benefits, and standards for what benefits are provided. The states manage the application pro

This column first appeared in the San Antoni0 Express News on January 16, 2017. Dear Mr. Premack: My parents are in their 80’s and have set up a Living Trust to help them qualify for nursing home Medicaid should they need financial assistance when the time comes. I had read that trusts could be used to hide assets from Medicaid by naming the children as beneficiaries of the trust. I am wondering if this approach will work now that the government is about to be cont The future

Dear Mr. Premack: With regards to Medicaid, how many acres are allowed in a Homestead? Can there be a country road that runs through the property for the Homestead claim? KF Texas Medicaid regulations do not restrict the number of acres that can be counted as homestead. If there is a country road that runs through the property, the road is not considered to interrupt the homestead. Law does require that the homestead property be “contiguous” – that is, you cannot claim as hom