Michigan

Survivor protections

(6) The department of community health shall not recover assets from the home of a medical assistance recipient if 1 or more of the following individuals are lawfully residing in that home: (a) The medical assistance recipient's spouse. (b) The medical assistance recipient's child who is under the age of 21 years, or is blind or permanently and totally disabled as defined in section 1614 of the social security act, 42 USC 1382c. (c) The medical assistance recipient's caretaker relative who was residing in the medical assistance recipient's home for a period of at least 2 years immediately before the date of the medical assistance recipient's admission to a medical institution and who establishes that he or she provided care that permitted the medical assistance recipient to reside at home rather than in an institution. As used in this subdivision, "caretaker relative" means any relation by blood, marriage, or adoption who is within the fifth degree of kinship to the recipient. (d) The medical assistance recipient's sibling who has an equity interest in the medical assistance recipient's home and who was residing in the medical assistance recipient's home for a period of at least 1 year immediately before the date of the individual's admission to a medical institution.

Undue hardship waiver

(e) Under what circumstances the estates of medical assistance recipients will be exempt from the Michigan medicaid estate recovery program because of a hardship. At the time an individual enrolls in medicaid for long-term care services, the department of community health shall provide to the individual written materials explaining the process for applying for a waiver from estate recovery due to hardship. The department of community health shall develop a definition of hardship according to section 1917(b)(3) of title XIX that includes, but is not limited to, the following: (i) An exemption for the portion of the value of the medical assistance recipient's homestead that is equal to or less than 50% of the average price of a home in the county in which the medicaid recipient's homestead is located as of the date of the medical assistance recipient's death. (ii) An exemption for the portion of an estate that is the primary income-producing asset of survivors, including, but not limited to, a family farm or business. (iii) A rebuttable presumption that no hardship exists if the hardship resulted from estate planning methods under which assets were diverted in order to avoid estate recovery.