DHA Case No. MDV-45/86382 (Wis. Div. of Hearings and Appeals November 19, 2007) (DHS)  ↓ Download PDF Issue 1: Caretaker child The caretaker child exception allows an institutionalized person to transfer homestead property to a child who lived with the person and provided care for at least two years. In this case, the petitioner co-owned […] Read more

DHA Case No. MDV-37/88496 (Wis. Div. of Hearings and Appeals May 16, 2008) (DHS)  ↓ Download PDF Promissory notes are commonly used to reduce countable resources for Medicaid eligibility. The rules require the note to have a repayment term within the applicant’s life expectancy, require equal payments with no balloon payment, prohibit cancellation of the […] Read more

DHA Case No. MGE 117071 (Wis. Div. of Hearings and Appeals Jul. 26, 2011) (DHS)  ↓ Download PDF This case is one example of a marital property agreement avoiding the potential divestment when a community spouse (1) dies, (2) leaves property to someone other than the institutionalized spouse, and (3) the institutionalized spouse fails to […] Read more

DHA Case No. MDV 144813 (Wis. Div. of Hearings and Appeals Jan. 18, 2013) (DHS)  ↓ Download PDF The petitioner in this case spent $195,000 on life-insurance-funded burial contracts (LIFBCs) to become eligible for Medicaid. She bought 13 of them, all for her children and their spouses, at a cost of $15,000 each. The agency […] Read more

DHA Case No. MDV 146580 (Wis. Div. of Hearings and Appeals April 23, 2013) (DHS)  ↓ Download PDF In this divestment case, the petitioner divested $85,000 to relatives. Those same relatives afterward paid about $89,000 for the petitioner’s nursing home care. Despite this, the agency found only a partial cure, arguing that only the payments […] Read more

DHA Case No. MGE 170367 (Wis. Div. of Hearings and Appeals March 2, 2016) (DHS)  ↓ Download PDF This decision discussed two issues at some length. First, whether payments to the petitioner’s daughter were divestments; and second, whether the petitioner’s former home, now rented at fair market value, was countable. On the first issue, the […] Read more

DHA Case No. MDV 195771 (Wis. Div. Hearings and Appeals January 9, 2020) (DHS)  ↓ Download PDF In this case, the petitioner’s son bought her multi-family residential property, which had also been her home. A bank evaluation estimated the property’s fair market value at $225,000, and the tax assessment bill estimated it at $236,500. The […] Read more

DHA Case No. MED 67/53178 (Wis. Div. Hearings and Appeals Feb. 28, 2003) (DHS)  ↓ Download PDF In this case, a Medicaid recipient failed to report a divestment that occurred after her initial application was approved and benefits had started. The ALJ held that, despite the failure to report, the overpayment of benefits was not […] Read more

DHA Case No. MDV-36/46674 (Wis. Div. Hearings and Appeals Nov. 21, 2000) (DHS)  ↓ Download PDF When a person, or another acting on the person’s behalf, acts to transfer property such as a life estate without receiving fair market value in return, it is a divestment. But what if the transfer happens automatically, because of […] Read more

DHA Case No. MDV 172290 (Wis. Div. Hearings and Appeals June 3, 2016) (DHS)  ↓ Download PDF A divestment can only be cured by returning the entire value of the resource divested. But what if there have been multiple resources divested? Must all cumulative divestments be returned, or can you cure one divestment at a time? In […] Read more

DHA Case No. MDV 197185 (Wis. Div. Hearings and Appeals Mar. 2, 2020) (DHS)  ↓ Download PDF The petitioner’s husband bought an annuity with a term beyond his life expectancy, which is usually a divestment. The ALJ agreed with the argument, however, that the annuity was bought without the intent to qualify for Medicaid, warranting […] Read more

DHA Case No. MDV 155403 (Wis. Div. Hearings and Appeals Apr. 30, 2014) (DHS)  ↓ Download PDF This decision finds that the exception to divestment for transferring the residence to a caretaker child does not apply when the applicant resides in an assisted living facility for even a short period of time before being approved for Family […] Read more