Medicaid Planning Question: If We Own the Condo My Mother Lived In, Will It Affect Her Medicaid to Use Her Money to Fix It Up?

The answer is probably yes. The state Medicaid agency would likely consider the payments to repair the condominium to be a transfer of assets causing a period of ineligibility for Medicaid. While your mother lived in the condo, you could have charged her fair market rent and then used the money for repairs or anything else. But you could only do that while she lived there and was receiving the benefit of housing. Going forward, it’s not clear that she’ll receive the benefit of any repairs, so her money cannot be used for that purpose without the likelihood of a transfer penalty.