McCarter v. Tennessee Department of Human Services
Jan 16, 2014OUTCOME: Favorable
Medicaid administrative appeal of an adverse financial determination by the Tennessee Department of Human Services. As part of client's spend down, a two-percent interest in client's homestead was deed ... ed to a family member. The caseworker denied eligibility, claiming that the transfer should be penalized as an uncompensated transfer of the entire property rather than an uncompensated transfer of the two-percent interest actually transferred. The State also claimed that the transfer of the percentage of ownership nullified the client's intent to return home, thus making the homestead a countable resource. We initiated an administrative appeal challenging these determinations. The Hearing Officer determined that the penalty should have been assessed only on the percentage actually transferred and that the transfer of the percentage interest did not nullify the client's intent to return home and did not make the homestead a countable resource.
