“I know Medicaid has a look back rule for several years when you transfer property – what about the VA?”


If you apply for Medicaid, and you qualify for Medicaid, then Medicaid looks back five years (60 months) and says, “Okay. You qualify. You made the health, the financial, all the requirements of Medicaid. But did you make any gifts in the last five years? Did you give away anything?”

If you did, then there are going to be some penalties involved. When I say “gift,” you transfer property and did not get the full fair market value. So you have a $100,000 house and give it to your kids for $10,000. That’s a $90,000 gift.

The VA does not have any look-back rule at least right now. They’re trying to go to a three-year but it hasn’t passed yet. But there is under Medicaid. So we have to coordinate that so we that we can say, “If I give away these assets to qualify for the VA, how will we be protected if we do have to go to a nursing home in the future?”

I know most folks we talk to say “I’ll never go to a nursing home” but the reality is everyone in a nursing home said the same thing.  Yet the nursing home is full of people.  Who did not want to be there.

We can’t always control whether our health is going to decline so we have to keep in mind both Medicaid and the VA Pension when we look at moving assets.

If you live in Alabama and have questions about this, give us a call at 205-879-2447 or fill out our form and we will get back with you ASAP.

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