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deceased. The heir, guardian, or trustee can then use the property
to pay any reasonable funeral costs, costs of administering the
estate, and related attorney fees. Any property remaining after
those expenses are paid must be paid to the DHS. Invoices,
receipts, and canceled checks of the expenses must be kept and
copies sent to DHS. Any medical bills (including those from
ambulance companies) should not be paid until after the charges
are reviewed and approved by the Estate Recovery Program.
Upon transferring all the remaining funds to DHS, the heir,
guardian, or trustee is released from any obligation to other
creditors or heirs of the deceased for the property transferred to
the heir, guardian, or trustee by the use of the affidavit.
For non-probate property, DHS will use similar procedures. DHS
will send its affidavit of the administrator to the co-owners and
beneficiaries of a member’s non-probate property.
Co-owners and beneficiaries have the right to request a fair
hearing on the value of the member’s interest in the property.
The value of the member’s interest for jointly owned property is
the percentage interest attributed to the member when eligibility
for assistance was determined or, if not determined at eligibility,
the fractional interest the member had in the property at his or
her death. For life estate interests, the value is the percentage of
ownership based on the member’s age at the date of death,
according to the life estate tables used for Medicaid eligibility.