JERSEY CITY HUDSON COUNTY NEW JERSEY DIVORCE LAWYER MEDICAID

After obtaining Medicaid benefits for his father, the son, through a power of attorney, obtained an $85,200 mortgage loan on his parents' condominium. The check was made payable to himself and his parents, and was deposited in the parents' bank account. A month later, he wrote himself a check for $35,000. The next day, he applied for Medicaid benefits for his mother, without revealing her ownership interest in the account. Then,  he wrote checks to himself totaling $24,250. A period of Medicaid ineligibility was therefore imposed on his parents. As a result, he had to repay the State Treasurer $67,792. Inter alia, the court rejects the son's claim he cannot be held liable for repayment, because his parents had resources beyond the qualifying limit, and it was his actions which resulted in the illegal payments. He failed to take the required steps to liquidate the condominium – the resource which rendered his parents ineligible for benefits – and then borrowed against the asset and transferred a large portion of those funds to himself. Further, his testimony regarding an alleged $35,000 loan he made to his parents – which he ostensibly paid back from the mortgage funds -- was found not credible.     A.H. v. Div. of Medical Assistance and Health Svcs., et al., New Jersey App. Div., March 19, 2008