Trust cannot be considered countable asset; MassHealth counted $16,000 held in a revocable trust established by the spouse who is now deceased; spouse’s will left estate to appellant; appellant’s attorney currently unable to find someone willing to be trustee (terms of trust require corporate trustee with 50 years management experience); upon spouse’s death assets are supposed to be divided into two trusts; appellant is only beneficiary of one of them; amount to be distributed to marital trust if any is the minimum amount that would allow the trust to qualify for the federal estate tax deduction; amount to be distributed unknown and could be as little as nothing.
Category: Stanley M. Kallianidis
Appeal 1807201
MMMNA was lower than what MassHealth calculated and therefore new allowable MMMNA is higher; no spousal deduction from appellant’s income because no extraordinary circumstances; medical expenses and water bill not extraordinary.
Appeal 1802749
Disqualifying transfer of assets; appellant paid daughter $8,000 in consideration of a “personal service contract”; while not all personal caregiver contracts are per se disqualifying transfers for less than fair market value, here, appellant has not received ascertainable fair market value for his purchase since he was admitted to a nursing home and was already receiving hands on care in the facility; therefore the personal care services under the contract were unnecessary or duplicative.
Appeal 1808954
Disqualifying transfer of $53,703 after appellant sold her home and deposited the proceeds into her grandson’s checking account; grandson cured a portion of this transfer and the ineligibility period was revised; no documentation to support grandson’s claim that he paid appellant’s expenses out of the proceeds from the home sale due to the insufficiency of her income to make ends meet; hearing officer concluded transfer was gift with no fair market value compensation received in return; also concluded there was intent to qualify for MassHealth.
Appeal 1807917
Community spouse has income amount less than MMMNA; spouse entitled to keep all of appellant’s income after PNA deduction; spouse entitled to all excess assets.
Appeal 1805159
Appellant discharged from nursing facility to homeless shelter; discharge was warranted; location of discharge approved by appellant’s physician; appellant does not need services of skilled nursing facility.
Appeal 1803632
Community spouse is entitled to her actual MMMNA amount; this amount is based on basic necessities such as shelter and utilities; appellant is on fixed income and has little savings and multiple medical conditions.
Appeal 1803606
- Issue is whether the appellant’s jointly-held real estate should be deemed non-countable. MassHealth ordered to disregard appellant’s jointly-owned real estate from countable assets and to approve the application if otherwise eligible.
Appeal 1800448
MassHealth application denied because verifications not submitted; missing verifications were assets of community spouse; community spouse’s refusal to cooperate with application process cannot be basis for denial of MassHealth application; appellant is mentally incompetent to assign rights of support to MassHealth.
Appeal 1800557
MMMNA should be increased because adjustments are needed in the calculations; no exceptional circumstances.
MassHealth Appeals 