Can Medi-Cal take my home after I die in California?

Only through probate, and less often than feared. Since 2017, Welfare and Institutions Code section 14009.5 limits Medi-Cal estate recovery to the deceased member's probate estate, so a home held in a living trust or in joint tenancy is not subject to recovery, and no claim is made while a spouse survives.

California narrowed Medi-Cal estate recovery dramatically for members who die on or after January 1, 2017. Under Welfare and Institutions Code section 14009.5, as amended by SB 833, the state may recover the cost of certain long-term-care and related services only from the member's estate subject to probate, so assets that avoid probate, including a home held in a revocable living trust, property passing by joint tenancy or a revocable transfer on death deed, and accounts with named beneficiaries, are outside the claim's reach. Recovery is also barred while a surviving spouse or registered domestic partner is alive and when a child of the deceased is under 21 or is blind or disabled, and hardship waivers exist, including protection tied to a homestead of modest value. Recovery generally concerns members who received covered services at age 55 or older. The rules reward planning: an estate plan that avoids probate is, in California, also the shield against recovery.

Authority: Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 14009.5