Estate Recovery News Alert

What is Estate Recovery Expansion?
 
House Bill 1351 (HB 1351) was introduced on April 28th as a part of the Governor’s budgetary plan. Section 1412 of HB 1351 proposes to expand Medicaid estate recov¬ery beyond the minimum federal requirement to include any asset in which the individual held an inter¬est at the time of death. HB 1351 further proposes to grant to the Dept of Public Welfare administra¬tive authority to assess payment liability and post liens on real and personal property.

What does this mean for me?
Assets that are currently exempt from estate recovery will no longer be protected.
The proposed estate recovery would include any interest you may have in real property, including a life estate interest, a joint tenant with survivorship interest, a tenants by the entireties interest (between husband and wife), and an inter¬est in a trust. The proposed estate recovery would also include any interest in personal property with joint owners or beneficiary designa-tions.
The new estate recovery would apply even if the property had been deeded or titled prior to the effec-tive date of the new statute.

What can do about the Expansion of Estate Recovery?
Call or write your state legisla¬tors and tell them you are not in favor of expanding the Medicaid Estate Recovery. Tell them this expansion is an unnecessary and unfair tax on the homes of our seniors. Tell them to vote NO on expanding the estate recovery.
If you don’t know who your state legislators are, then you can contact this writer or go online at www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/ find.cfm. We can also provide you with sample letters to write to your congressmen.

If our Congress passes HB 1351 with the expanded estate recovery provisions, and the governor signs it into law, then you must go back to your attorney and review your es¬tate planning even if you think you have everything already in place.