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3 years ago I was made executor of my great uncles will.. I was contacted by mail that my cousin wants me to sign off on her dealing the home to repay medicare. This doesn't sound right ND the pap rs say nothing of medicare. Help please

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MediCARE doesn't get paid back, but MediCAID may require payment.

You need the support of an attorney because your question reflects the facts you aren't prepared to handle this VERY DIFFICULT TASK on your own. The attorney will help you to apply for a separate EIN number (tax number) and direct you to open an account in that tax number and begin to gather the estate into that account. This will include your SELLING THE HOME (unless it was bequeathed to cousin or someone else and unless cousin can buy the home for fair market value) and putting the monies into the account. Then you will, after all assets are drawn into the estate account, distribute as the will dictates.

This is a hard job. If you are not up to it refuse to be the Executor. No one must serve as POA or as executor after a death. The courts will then appoint a paid executor who will know exactly how all this works and who will be able to do it efficiently and in a timely manner, communicating with the cousin as it happens.

I was both POA and Trustee for my brother while he lived, and Executor and Trustee after his death. While he was meticulous and the estate was clearly delineated, and I the only beneficiary, it was a huge job settling everything out and then closing it all up tight for the IRS. It requires meticulous record keeping and is a steep steep learning curve. I tried to avoid hiring on an attorney, but when I did I was sooooooooo helped and sooooooooo thankful. See a Trust and Estate Attorney. They will guide you in either DOING or in passing on this onerous duty.
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Reply to AlvaDeer
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As the executor you have a legal duty if you accept this role to comply with the laws and rules in the State where you LO passed. Each state is slightly different in what they require. For example, some States or localities require you present the original Will to start Probate. You might find it helpful to contact a Wills, Trust and Estate Attorney in the State where your LO passed to assure the laws and rules are complied with. The expense for this should be taken out of any proceeds from the sold home as the Executor can be reimbursed for expenses incurred to handle final things like this.

If there are outstanding Medical bills (Medicare co-pays for example) YES, you would need to pay those off from the proceeds of the sale of the home. If you LO had Medicaid (different, than Medicare AND he may have been in a nursing home before his passing) then YES the State can "come after" the proceeds from the house sale assuming there is NO spouse living (there are "spousal impoverishment" rules to protect a living spouse). But your State's Medicaid program will expect to be paid back for expenses incurred for long term nursing home care. Again, this is complicated an an attorney licensed in the State where your LO lived/passed can help.

You also have to file final taxes for them as the Executor and handle the closing of all things related to their estate: Inform all creditors (usually this entails publishing something in the local paper), close all accounts (funds left anywhere Medicaid may go after), have things valued as part of the estate, sell things, etc.

If you do NOT want to be the Executor, you can tell the probate court in the locality where your LO passed that you cannot do this, and the court will assign an attorney to handle this.

The probate process usually takes a year or more to complete.

Sorry you are dealing with this. Most folks have no clue about these end of life "Will, Probate, Tax, Funeral, etc issues" and have to learn about it all when they are in the middle of it of trying to do it and grieve at the same time. Ugh.

I so wish colleges and schools -- and FAMILIES!!! -- would start teaching (and families start talking about/preparing for) this "real life stuff" rather than offering "basket weaving/feel good" classes and parents ignoring things, thereby dropping it the laps of the next generation to handle sans any guidance. Sorry for the rant.
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Reply to Sohenc
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Typically not Medicare as he earned his benefit throughout his working life.
If you said Medicaid and he was receiving benefits like nursing home, than they will come after the house unless a family member is living there.
Need more information. Don't sign anything over to anyone without getting legal help, and pay for it through the estate.
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Reply to BluSky1
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Yes, why has it taken so long to probate the Will. Has cousin received paperwork from Medicaid asking what assets Uncle has? If so, these papers now go to you. The only reason they went to the cousin is because she must have been his POA or his contact. As Executor you have all the info to fill out these forms. Its just a matter of answeing the questions. One being that there is a house. When recovery receives the paperwork, a lien will be put on the home. YOU then will need to sell the home at Market Value to pay off the lien. Liens like Taxes will be paid off first. Medicaid will be after other liens are satisfied. If that takes all the proceeds then beneficiaries get nothing. If there are proceeds left, that gets split between beneficiaries.

If your cousin was POA, that stopped at death. As Executor you are now responsible for Uncles estate. No one else.
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Reply to JoAnn29
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MargaretMcKen Aug 20, 2024
JoAnn, the post isn’t clear about “3 years ago I was made executor of my great uncles will”. Is that the time the will was drawn up, or the time of death, or the time of probate? Probate can take quite a long time in complex estates.
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What precisely has happened in the past 3 years???

Was probate opened and you have been issued Letters Testamentary?
or
Is the will sitting in limbo and nothing has been done to have it entered in court to have it made valid?
Who was his POA back when he was still alive?

The cousin, why would they be the 1 person in your Uncles past who would be the “one” to have gotten any type of communication regarding Uncles debts and Estate?

fwiw Margaret is spot on that it is NO Medicare that involved, would more likely be one of the specific Medicaid programs that has Estate Recovery. Only way - in my not an attorney understanding- Medicare gets involved would be if he was involved in a tort action and got a settlement which included $ that Medicare paid. MediCARE Secondary Payor Act requirements.
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Reply to igloo572
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No, it doesn’t sound right. ‘Medicare’ not ‘Medicaid’? If there is a house and potentially other assets in the estate for which you are executor (and I assume that great uncle has now died), you will probably need a lawyer to help you with probate. You shouldn’t deal with any of the assets until you have probate, and cousin shouldn’t be ‘dealing with the home’ – ie selling it? You almost certainly can’t transfer the title! She can join the club of people who are unhappy with how long it takes.
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