WAC 388-561-0300 Life estates

1. The department determines how life estates affect eligibility for medical programs.

2. A life estate is an excluded resource when either of the following conditions apply:

   1. It is property other than the home, which is essential to self-support or part of an approved plan for self-support; or

   2. It cannot be sold due to refusal of joint life estate owner(s) to sell.

3. Remaining interests of excluded resources in subsection (2) may be subject to transfer of asset penalties under WAC 388-513-1363, 388-513-1364 and  388-513-1365.

4. Only the client’s proportionate interest in the life estate is considered when there is more than one owner of the life estate.

5. A client or a client’s spouse, who transfers legal ownership of a property to create a life estate, may be subject to transfer-of-resource penalties under WAC 388-513-1363, 388-513-1363 and 388-513-1365.When the property of a life estate is transferred for less than fair market value (FMV), the department treats the transfer in one of two ways:

6. 1. For non-institutional medical, the value of the uncompensated portion of the resource is combined with other non-excluded resources, or

   2. For institutional medical, a period of ineligibility will be established according to WAC 388-513-1363, 388-513-1364 and 388-513-1365.