What should I do with my parent' car when my farther is applying for Medicaid?

A driver's license shouldn't affect his ability to sell the car, but the registration is important to prove ownership. If he's going to sell the car, likely he should do it now. Medicaid may want the money, but it's not that much long-term. The best approach if he doesn't sell it now is to contact Medicaid and see what their view is.
Good luck,
Carol

Another alternative is to the donate the car to a charity. Medicaid only allows you to have $2,000 in assets when applying.

Can someone else register a car if they are not the "owner"?

No, you would have to transfer the title of the car to them and then they become the owner of the vehicle.

My suggestion is to get the current Blue Book value on the vehicle.
That amount is the benchmark for all reporting, should you need it, and if they are going to apply for Medicaid, they/you will need to know the car's legitimate value.
Kelly's Blue Book does this. Make a xerox of the page.

Let's say the BB value is $ 1,500.00.
The car is an "exempt" or non-countable asset as long as it is in their name. As long as they qualify for their states ceiling for "income" & "assets" for Medicaid, having the car doesn't matter. But depending on their states monthly "personal needs allowance", it might be tough for them to pay registration, insurance, etc.
Plus they probably really don't need a car.

If it gets donated to a real charity, the donation can be viewed as a tax deduction.
You kinda need to be careful with a charity donation, as usually people WANT the donation to be over the value as they are taking it as a tax deduction. Like you drop off a bag of old clothes at Goodwill and say the value is $200.00. This is not the situation you are in, you want it on the lowest value.

If it gets donated to family, the value of the car could be viewed as income for the month it gets donated by your states Medicaid program based on the BB value. So if their monthly income from Social Security and a retirement account is $ 1,800.00 mo (& under the 2K income ceiling for Medicaid) BUT the month of donation their "income" could be $ 3,300 (1,800 + 1,500) and disqualified for that month.

But if he were to sell the car for $ 175.00, then he is still below the 2K monthly income and all OK for the Medicaid application. The $ 175 is spent on his care or his needs and documented as such. Good luck.

Also, if they "gift" the car, it could trigger a "transfer penalty" for Medicaid review.

For Medicaid, they cannot have gifted away anything of value during 5yr look-back period.

If you do, there could be a “transfer penalty” when items are gifted. Penalty different for each state as it’s based on each state’s NH reimbursement rate. For Texas, it is $ 142.92 a day rate transfer penalty.

Could the car be "sold" for less than the BB value to a relative or would that still be deemed a "gift"?

A lot of this really truly will depend on the BB$.
If it's 5,000 and you sell it for $ 500 then it won't work. It will be a gift of $ 4,500 and they will have a Medicaid transfer penalty of $ 4,500.00. Which means someone will have to private pay $4,500 to the NH before Medicaid kicks in.

What you want is a "fair purchase price" - this takes into account what the car is like - so one that has non repaired accident damage will be different and a lot less in value than the same model driven by an old lady who took it to church and grocery.......You can also look in the want ad's for comparable's. You just need to have documented as to why it's the value you say it is.

Cars you really cannot slip under the radar (LOL) as all the records are in an easily gotten database for Medicaid or other review.

Can I keep my car on Medicaid?

As I understand it, you are entitled to keep one car registered in your name.

I know in PA we were told we could gift a car to a relative, so we gave dad's 10 year old pristine truck to a nephew who was always there for him. No need to record the condition... I don;t know if this would have affected medi.. or is just some PA tax thing, but it was not an issue for us. Dad didn;t need Medi before he passed. But if the auto is only worth $500.. ( you get to report the condition, and that affects the BB value) I';d worry about it later, or at least not stress about it. Costs to keep it up and running would be more than that. Just set the money aside if it really worries you. I;d rather be rid of the car myself.

Your father can have one car of any value in his name, these are the new rules according to K. Gabriel Heiser on this site. And of course whether your father drives or does not drive is of no concern to Medicaid.

When your father's license expires and he doesn't want it to expire then be proactive. Pay the fee for renewal. That might be "all she wrote" about that. Then again the state might insist that he take an eye exam, or take a written test regarding the current rules of the road, or one of any number of "hoops" states have come up with and which require people of a certain age to jump through, in an effort to make sure that these elderly drivers are capable still of handling those big machines called cars and of driving safely in today's increasing traffic.

Your father can also hold onto his car, allow his license lapse and then as his capabilities and needs are wont to change from time to time, consider putting you or another family member in charge of chauffeuring him around town in order to meet his needs.

There are many ways to get the car from point A to point B: a family member with the available time in which to fly to wherever the car is and then once there, to get behind the wheel and drive it to wherever it is your father resides and wishes to also have his car. Perhaps a relative could volunteer to drive it to your location and then fly back (or take a bus or train) home. Someone could be found through a classified ad in craigslist and bring the car to you for a small fee or by bartering in exchange. College kids often do this, especially if you live (or your father of course) in a particularly attractive or popular state, like California and Washington or Florida and Georgia, the object of course being the beach time and partying available once the destination is successfully reached. With advance planning this could be done to coincide with the return for fall semester. Or even spring break. Then of course in some areas of the country trains are available to move cars to their new homes although this could end up costing more than the value of the car.

Once the car does arrive safely and is reunited with your father, you could then apply for new registration, taking care of insurance and the other details of car ownership that the state might require of you.

I am somewhat confused regarding the final part of your question regarding the relative who would like to "keep the car" but also doesn't have a driver's license. For simplification I am going to think these are one and the same person. Because once again, keeping the car (or having your father gift the car to him) has nothing to do with whether he has a driver's license with which to drive the car. These are two different processes. Car ownership is one thing. Being legally able to drive a car because one has a driver's license is a total and separate thing. He could be given the car, which would be very nice on the part of your father; and having been given a car that just might be the incentive needed to get him to 1) either learn how to drive , or 2) to renew the driver's license he already has. Other than that I don't really understand the correlation you're making between wanting to keep a car on the one hand while on the other, you'd not be able to drive it because you lack a driver's license. This person would not have the right to drive a car in any state without a driver's license. But he certainly is free anywhere to sit and admire the car that he wanted to keep and which someone did give him for free.

When my mother-in-law could no longer drive and was moving into an AL facility she was adamant that we make certain that her beautiful hardly driven, large American car be given free of charge to the wife of the mechanic who had taken such good care of it over the years. Both of their husbands were gone. My sweet MIL had AD and so she never fully was aware that this woman, the mechanic's wife, who had promised to visit my MIL often (she was only moving blocks away) and to take her on car trips and shopping to the local mall, never once even visited the AL facility to take a meal with my well-meaning MIL. I was also so happy that I never ran into that selfish woman driving that beautiful big Buick. I might have stolen it back after she had parked it for the night and walked away. It would have served her right.