Last week I sat across the desk from a retired widow who was upset because recently she was unable to close on the sale of her house. She wanted to sell her home and move into her daughter’s house. She had lived alone for a number of years and felt it was safer to live where she was constantly surrounded by family. The day before the closing was scheduled she received a phone call from her mortgage broker who notified her that the house could not be sold because there was a lien placed on the title of the home. The widow was notified that the lien was placed on the home by an attorney who worked for the State of Ohio. The attorney was contracted by the state to assist the Ohio Attorney General’s office with the process of estate recovery.
The goal of the Ohio Estate Recovery program is to recover correctly paid Nursing Home or In Home Care medical benefits from the estate of the recipient. The widow’s husband was in a nursing home in greater Cincinnati for 5 years, dating back to 2000 till his death in 2005. The last 3 years of his stay was paid for through government benfits. Prior to the husband’s approval for government medical benefits it was determined by Ohio that the Widow could keep the home as a necessary protected asset.
The value of the lien totaled $176,700.00, which was placed on a home that was valued at approximately $130,500.00. I explained to the widow that the value of the lien was based solely on the amount of money that the Govermet contributed to her husband’s care. She was upset because even if she felt that even if she sold the home and gave all of the money to the State there would still be a significant amount of money that she would have to pull out of savings to eliminate the debt.
We were able to use our knowledge of the Public Benefits to assure her that the state could not recover any money owed until after her death, and therefore the current use of lien was not valid. The good news was that we contacted the attorney who issued the lien and were able to negotiate the invalid lien off the property. The widow now has a new closing date and is once again excited about her move and secure in her retirement.
