Community Spouse Wins Large Medicaid Asset Transfer Amount In Cook County Chancery Division
Recently a community spouse represented by this office and applying for Medicaid for her nursing home resident husband, succeeded in a contested case in the Cook County Chancery Division in keeping assets above the $81,960.00 asset allowance and income above the $2,049 monthly income allowance. The case is In Re The Matter Of Lyle Raymond Boehm, Nursing Home Spouse, and Donna Rae Boehm, Community Spouse, Case No. 99 CH 10973, Honorable Ellis E. Reid Judge Presiding (order entered September 23, 1999).
The court entered a very detailed order, saying, among other things, that the community spouse is younger than the average community spouse facing the Medicaid application process (age 50), noting that her monthly living and household expenses are approximately $2,800.00 per month, and that she suffers from a serious cash flow crisis, and would suffer greatly from the loss of the nursing home spouse's income and assets. Also, the court cited Federal and state law, and Illinois policy, and said that Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988 does not deny or deprive the community spouse of being able to protect his or her estate per se; rather the fairness of the transfer is what is focused upon, and this is done on a case by case basis. The State had already conceded to the transfer of the excess income and the homestead from the nursing home spouse to the community spouse, but was contending that the transfer of income was enough to prevent any shortfall. The court went with the contention that there was still a serious cash flow problem, and this was the only time in real terms that the community spouse could ever have the situation corrected. In oral argument, the attorney for the State Attorney General’s office tried to say that the combined total of approximately $210,000.00 in assets was just too much - period. We convinced the court that there in fact was impoverishment under these particular circumstances, and the court went in our favor.