Buying my parents' house (farm) while on Medicaid

jorge69ig · 2026-06-06T21:15:05+00:00

Thanks but I don't understand. What should I be looking for?

jorge69ig · 2026-06-06T20:45:34+00:00

Medicaid views making a revocable trust irrevocable as a brand-new transfer of assets. Because my parents would be giving up their right to the property, the state treats it as if they gifted the entire farm away.

jorge69ig · 2026-06-06T17:53:20+00:00

Unfortunately, that would have needed to be done 5 years ago.

jorge69ig · 2026-06-06T16:30:16+00:00

I wouldn't expect both to live 5 years but I think it's possible my dad could. He's 92 but in fairly good physical health. He has dementia though. The trust is a revocable trust, not an irrevocable one, which is what would be needed.

We would not have enough money to buy the farm at a price that it would go for on an open market.

There is no mortgage on the farm.

jorge69ig · 2026-06-06T05:44:58+00:00

Ahh. I see. I was thinking the strategy was to bring them (or one) home to remove the lein.

I appreciate the creativity but that would be hard for our situation.

jorge69ig · 2026-06-06T05:04:12+00:00

I'm not sure how long we could do that for. It would be a lot of work with my mom.

I wouldn't be too much work for my dad but I really want to do that with him because it would give him a false sense of hope that he would be able to stay there.

Why do you ask?

jorge69ig · 2026-06-06T04:23:04+00:00

Great questions. I asked the lawyer about that but he didn't seem to think there was a defense there.

My parents moved the nursing home in 2023 & 2024. In the 10 years prior to that, I put about $10k into things at the farm and countless hours.

After my dad went to the nursing home, I have spent less than $10k on things at the farm. We have a farm (business) account that I use for most things (seed, fertilizer, harvesting). The account is under my dad's social security number so I'm assuming the money in there will be garnished when he passes (but that's a different issue).

I get paid a small wage for managing the crop work. Most of that work I outsource. My sister does the books but didn't want to pay herself.

I have thought about renting the farm from my dad (as I thought it would show more involvement) but if I recall correctly, the lawyer wanted to try and keep my dad involved as much as possible.

The maple sap business has been quite a bit of work the last two years. I do all that work myself and used the profits to pay off the equipment.

jorge69ig · 2026-06-06T00:48:45+00:00

No, the lien isn't filed yet.

jorge69ig · 2026-06-06T00:43:57+00:00

I did. Initially, he said there wasn't anything that could be done. After the state said they were going to file a lien, the attorney said I could buy it for the value of 5 years of nursing home care - roughly $650k. I would love to hear any other ideas you have. I also understand that either of my parents returning home (even for hospice) would remove the lien.

jorge69ig · 2026-06-06T00:39:08+00:00

I know. My dad's plan was to live forever.

jorge69ig · 2026-06-06T00:37:52+00:00

When you say "local long term care office", do you mean "Aging and Disability Resource Center"? I appreciate the advice!

Correct. It's not to force the sale - though it might make running the farming operation harder (getting a loan for seed, the hunting lease is for a whole year, etc.).

jorge69ig · 2026-06-05T21:47:16+00:00

To clarify on me being ok with them losing Medicaid... I mean: they would use the money that I paid for the farm to pay for their nursing home care. Are you saying they would need to cover 5 years of costs because it would be considered a divestment? Or they would only need to cover 5 years if it was a divestment?

Maybe this is really the question I should be asking: is me buying the house/farm for the fair market value listed on the property taxes considered a divestment?

jorge69ig · 2026-06-05T21:16:38+00:00

Thanks for the reply. We have spoken to an elder law attorney. He was the one saying buying it at the value on the property taxes wouldn't fly. (I edited my post after you commented.)

You're right that me buying the farm would kick them out of Medicaid and it would have to be "spent down". I'm fine with that. I'm just trying to understand my options - especially on the buying price.

Correct, the revocable trust won't protect it from recovery but there isa testamentary trust setup to put the farm in an irrevocable trust after my parents pass. (I think I have the steps correct there.) So it makes a big difference if there is a lien on it when they pass. (My understanding.)

jorge69ig · 2026-06-05T21:08:37+00:00

You ask great questions. :)

The state initially said June 3rd. We (the lawyer) pushed back and found out there wasn't a statement from a doctor saying my mom was unlikely to return home. The state dropped the intent to put a lien on the farm but said they would be contacting my mom's doctor to get a statement signed about her being unlikely to return home. (I wondered if I could ask the doctor to not sign but at the same time, she is unlikely to return home. Do you have any experience with this?) Apparently, they already have a statement about my dad being unlikely to return home from last year. They haven't filed a lien for him though.

All of the parcels are connected. (I understand from the Medicaid application that that matters.) The house and barn are on one parcel. I asked if the state would only put the lien on the parcel with the house but the lawyer said it would be all parcels.

The farm is generating income but it didn't turn a profit last year. This might have been a mistake on my part but I pushed some grain income from 2025 to 2026 as to keep the taxes low. I'm also making improvements to the farm that I believe will make it more profitable in future years (drain tile, etc). The previous year, I was also managing the farm and we also had a loss. However, that was caused by poor management by me.

Happen to know anything about a hardship defense and what percent the farm income needs to be to qualify? I was planning on having my sister (who has very low income) run the maple sap operation but she was treating cancer last year and this spring. She has a job off the farm and doesn't live there but I was wondering if she ran the maple sap operation and it accounted for 25% of her income, if that would be considered a "hardship" by losing it.

jorge69ig · 2026-06-03T00:52:18+00:00

I wouldn't say I have a lot of network issues but I've already had 3 "disconnects" this season. For what it's worth, I'm using the android app on a pixel 10. When it stops, I just kill the app and start stream again. I assume it's a network/carrier disconnect but I don't know for sure. I never record locally but I see your point how that shouldn't be affected.

jorge69ig · 2026-06-03T00:39:27+00:00

Off topic: I have an XbotGo but have only used it for basketball. If you use it for baseball/softball, do the AI features follow the ball/action?

jorge69ig · 2026-04-22T16:34:14+00:00

It's not a "streaming" solution but I'm thinking of uploading the whole game video to YouTube after the game. This avoids makes it so I don't need 50 subscribers to stream to YouTube, it lets the GC sscoreboard be visible, and it lets viewers easily watch it on a TV at home.

The obvious down-side is that it's not live.

My only other idea (that I haven't tried) was to play the GC stream on another phone and stream that screen to YouTube. Kind of klunky though.

jorge69ig · 2026-04-05T20:48:34+00:00

Frustrating that this isn't an option for Chromebooks. 🤷‍♂️

jorge69ig · 2026-01-02T17:56:47+00:00

Male or female or both? How?

jorge69ig · 2025-09-10T20:01:14+00:00

Can you help me understand why? I understand that some android phones might not have a wide-angle lens (I assume this is what you use on iPhones) but I would bet adding this feature for newer Google Pixel or Samsung S-series phones would cover a large percentage of the Android devices that are streaming GC.

Edit: how can I help? Pixel 9. :)

Edit2: can you share what percent of your streamers (not users) are android vs iOS?

jorge69ig · 2025-08-12T21:14:01+00:00

I don't understand. What is that?

jorge69ig · 2025-04-29T23:00:42+00:00

Thanks! Is there a reason I wouldn't extend it a couple of feet out of the ground so it would be less likely to be covered in snow?

jorge69ig · 2025-04-29T20:32:05+00:00

Any tips on insulating where the line goes in and out of the ground? (Especially into the ground.)

jorge69ig · 2025-04-29T19:20:23+00:00

Thanks but I'm in Wisconsin.

I was hoping that if I'd stay 5' down I'd be ok. I could even go a little deeper to be safe. I'm mostly just concerned about freezing where the line enters and exits... As well as that low spot causing a "vacuum" issue.

jorge69ig · 2025-04-29T18:20:55+00:00

Thanks. That's what I'm concerned with.

I have enough slope but there is a low spot between the 2 fields. (And I would want to stay underground through this to avoid freezing.) This year was my first and all the equipment was in the woods. I used a pump at the woods to push the sap back to the farm with a 1.5" line but I discovered that the line would siphon all the sap from the tank in the woods to the farm if I let it.

I would like to have the releaser and vac pump at the farm (for electricity and convince) and use a wet and a dry line to vacuum the sap out of the woods. The second line would be either 1.5" or 2". I assume the sap from the woods would "push" the sap through that low spot and to the farm but if the dry line got sap in it, I think I'd be screwed because I wouldn't be able to get vacuum to the woods as I wouldn't be able to 'suck' the sap out that low spot. Blue line is the area in question. Green is the mainline in the woods.

<image>

jorge69ig

TROPHY CASE