Hypothetically, what if you have NO MONEY, but own a house...but you put the house in your child's name....

Question

BEFORE YOU GO INTO A REST HOME due to being elderly...What kind of a home would you get if you had no savings??? Someone with knowledge about this subject PLEASE!!!

Answer 1

What kind of rest home would you get if you had no savings? Do you mean buy?Your question is not quite clear. Rest homes mostly care about your net monthly income. The more income you have the better the rest home you will qualify for. If you have little of no income, then sell your house and use the money to move into a good rest home.

Answer 2

You go to a state controlled rest home, the state seizes the property, the child goes to jail for fraud.

They will see that you transfered title in an attempt to commit fraud against your fellow tax payers and take the appropriate action.

If you have assets you need to pay your way, not taking money from your neighbors families.

The other poster, not Diane is correct, you can't take a reverse mortgage, they take the house as soon as you move out.

The state will not bill you, they will simply bill your estate after you pass.

Answer 3

Well hypothetically a person who has no money might be eligible for medicare or medicaid payments that would pay for a rest home.

But  if that hypothetical person concealed assets by putting their home in the name of their child and lied on their application form they might hypothetically be guilty of fraud, and might hypothetically go to jail- or the government might take the hypothetical house.  All in all, not a good plan.

Edit:

A reverse mortgage is not the answer. You have to live in the house to keep a reverse mortgage.

Inheritance taxes are not a big deal unless you have over a million dollars in assets, in which case you would not be asking this question here.

Answer 4

Two things:  first of all you can do a reverse mortgage to pay for your rest home expenses. Otherwise it will be hard to find you a decent rest home.  Second, do not put the house into a relative's name as they will get hit with significant taxes.  Instead put it into a revocable living trust.  When you die they inherit at a stepped up cost basis with no taxes. R reputable financial planner or similar can tell you about both options for very little cost.