Clear Money Guide
What this guide covers
A quick view of the questions and evidence developed below.
Comparison tables scroll horizontally on smaller screens.
Guides › Medicaid and Your House
Updated July 31, 2026. Quick answer: “can Medicaid take the house” is really TWO questions with different timelines, and most articles blur them. Before and during care: the home is usually an EXEMPT asset — it does not count against eligibility while a spouse, minor, or disabled child lives there, or while you declare an intent to return (subject to an equity cap, roughly $700,000–$1.1 million depending on state, indexed annually). Medicaid does not “take” the house while you are alive. After death: every state must run an estate-recovery program that claims long-term-care costs back from your estate — and whether that claim can reach a house that passed OUTSIDE probate depends entirely on your state, which is what the table below verifies.
The two programs people conflate
The 60-month look-back polices GIFTS before applying: transfers within five years create a penalty period computed by a federal formula. Estate recovery happens after death. Different rules defeat each: the look-back is about timing and exempt transfers (including the caregiver-child exemption); recovery is about what ends up in the probate estate — which is why TOD deeds and Lady Bird deeds matter in some states and fail in others. One special case: California eliminated its asset limit in 2024 and narrowed both programs sharply — Californians should read state guidance, not national articles.
Estate-recovery reach, verified state by state
29 of 51 jurisdictions recover only from the probate estate; 22 have adopted expanded recovery reaching some non-probate transfers. Crossed with whether the state offers a TOD deed (from our statute-verified 51-state table):
| State | Estate-recovery reach | TOD deed available | What that means for the house |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Probate estate only | No | Assets passing outside probate (no TOD deed (check Lady Bird availability), living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Alaska | Probate estate only | Yes | Assets passing outside probate (a TOD deed, living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Arizona | Probate estate only | Yes | Assets passing outside probate (a TOD deed, living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Arkansas | Probate estate only † | Yes | Assets passing outside probate (a TOD deed, living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| California | Probate estate only | Yes | Assets passing outside probate (a TOD deed, living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Colorado | Probate estate only † | Yes | Assets passing outside probate (a TOD deed, living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Connecticut | Probate estate only † | No | Sources conflict on this state’s reach — confirm with the state Medicaid agency before relying on any deed strategy |
| Delaware | Probate estate only † | Yes | Assets passing outside probate (a TOD deed, living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| District of Columbia | Probate estate only | No | Assets passing outside probate (no TOD deed (check Lady Bird availability), living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Florida | Probate estate only | No | Assets passing outside probate (no TOD deed (check Lady Bird availability), living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Georgia | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | Yes | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| Hawaii | Probate estate only | Yes | Assets passing outside probate (a TOD deed, living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Idaho | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | No | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| Illinois | Probate estate only | Yes | Assets passing outside probate (a TOD deed, living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Indiana | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | Yes | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| Iowa | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | No | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| Kansas | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | Yes | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| Kentucky | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | No | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| Louisiana | Probate estate only | No | Assets passing outside probate (no TOD deed (check Lady Bird availability), living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Maine | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | Yes | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| Maryland | Probate estate only | Yes | Assets passing outside probate (a TOD deed, living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Massachusetts | Probate estate only | No | Assets passing outside probate (no TOD deed (check Lady Bird availability), living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Michigan | Probate estate only | No | Assets passing outside probate (no TOD deed (check Lady Bird availability), living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Minnesota | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | Yes | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| Mississippi | Probate estate only † | Yes | Assets passing outside probate (a TOD deed, living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Missouri | Probate estate only | Yes | Assets passing outside probate (a TOD deed, living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Montana | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | Yes | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| Nebraska | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | Yes | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| Nevada | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | Yes | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| New Hampshire | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | Yes | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| New Jersey | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | No | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| New Mexico | Probate estate only | Yes | Assets passing outside probate (a TOD deed, living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| New York | Probate estate only | Yes | Assets passing outside probate (a TOD deed, living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| North Carolina | Probate estate only | No | Assets passing outside probate (no TOD deed (check Lady Bird availability), living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| North Dakota | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | Yes | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| Ohio | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | Yes | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| Oklahoma | Probate estate only | Yes | Assets passing outside probate (a TOD deed, living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Oregon | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | Yes | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| Pennsylvania | Probate estate only | No | Assets passing outside probate (no TOD deed (check Lady Bird availability), living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Rhode Island | Probate estate only | No | Assets passing outside probate (no TOD deed (check Lady Bird availability), living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| South Carolina | Probate estate only | No | Assets passing outside probate (no TOD deed (check Lady Bird availability), living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| South Dakota | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | Yes | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| Tennessee | Probate estate only | No | Assets passing outside probate (no TOD deed (check Lady Bird availability), living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Texas | Probate estate only | Yes | Assets passing outside probate (a TOD deed, living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Utah | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | Yes | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| Vermont | Probate estate only | No | Assets passing outside probate (no TOD deed (check Lady Bird availability), living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Virginia | EXPANDED (beyond probate) † | Yes | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| Washington | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | Yes | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| West Virginia | Probate estate only † | Yes | Assets passing outside probate (a TOD deed, living trusts, joint tenancy) are generally beyond recovery here |
| Wisconsin | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | Yes | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
| Wyoming | EXPANDED (beyond probate) | Yes | Expanded recovery: assume non-probate transfers may be reachable; get state-specific advice |
† = one authority or conflicting sources; confirm with the state Medicaid agency. This table describes recovery SCOPE; hardship waivers, surviving-spouse deferrals, and lien programs vary further. Data licensed CC BY 4.0 — reuse with attribution and a link.
What actually protects the house
In probate-only states: keeping the house OUT of probate (a TOD or Lady Bird deed where available, a properly built trust) generally puts it beyond recovery — but adding a child to the deed is usually the worst way to try. In expanded states, planning is harder and earlier: five-year-old transfers clear the look-back, and irrevocable-trust work is exactly the kind of thing to do with professional help, not a blog post.
Related: Lady Bird Deeds and Medicaid: Not a Gift, No Penalty, and (Sometimes) No Recovery.
The basis question most trust pages skip: if an irrevocable trust moves the house out of your taxable estate, your heirs get no step-up in basis — the IRS confirmed it in Rev. Rul. 2023-2 — and the capital-gains bill can run to six figures. What you give up either way.
The questions people actually ask
These come from what people actually search and ask in public threads on this topic. Each answer is a short summary of a page on this site that works the question through properly, with its sources; follow the link when the detail matters, which on most of these it does.
Should I add my child to the deed to protect the house?
It is the most common bad idea in this area: it is a gift that can trigger a Medicaid penalty period, it costs your child the step-up in basis, and it exposes the house to their creditors and divorce. Three problems, one deed.
Does a Lady Bird deed work better?
In the states that recognise one it is treated differently from an outright gift and it skips probate, which is a materially different outcome from adding a child to the deed. How it is treated.
How long is the penalty if I did make a gift?
It is arithmetic, not a fixed term: the gift amount divided by your state’s penalty divisor sets the number of months. Compute yours.
I moved in to care for my parent. Does that change anything?
There is a caregiver-child exemption, and it is specific: broadly, two years of care plus a physician’s letter establishing that the care kept the parent out of a facility. The exact conditions.
Does a transfer-on-death deed put the house out of reach?
It avoids probate, which is not the same thing — a number of states define the recoverable estate more broadly than the probate estate, and in those a TOD deed does not end the exposure. Which states, and what else applies.
Should I put the house in an irrevocable trust?
It can protect the house, and if the trust is built so the property leaves your taxable estate it also costs your heirs the step-up in basis — a bill that regularly runs to five or six figures. That trade is the whole decision, and it is computable rather than theoretical. Price it for your own numbers.
What does setting up a trust cost in the first place?
Less than most people assume, and far less than the sums at stake in this decision — but the right comparison is against what the alternative routes cost and protect, not against zero. The current cost ranges.
Archived, citable copy. This dataset is deposited with a permanent DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.21743935. Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 with attribution.
If you are supporting a parent: two separate tests decide whether you can claim them, and failing the income one still leaves you the deduction for their medical and care costs — which at care prices is usually the larger of the two.
The answer depends on your state, and it genuinely flips: Medicaid estate recovery by state — federal law requires recovery from the probate estate, but many states define the estate more broadly and reach joint tenancy, transfer-on-death accounts and living trusts. Each state cited to its own law.
Added to the state-by-state comparison on September 3, 2026, completing it to all 51 jurisdictions: Medicaid estate recovery in Arkansas (probate estate only), Medicaid estate recovery in Colorado (probate estate only), Medicaid estate recovery in Connecticut (probate estate only), Medicaid estate recovery in Delaware (probate estate only), Medicaid estate recovery in Mississippi (probate estate only), Medicaid estate recovery in Virginia (expanded estate) and Medicaid estate recovery in West Virginia (probate estate only).