It's the fear behind almost every elder law consultation: you worked decades to pay off the house, and you're afraid a nursing home stay will take it. The honest answer is that Medicaid doesn't seize your home while you're alive and living in it — but without planning, the house can be lost to estate recovery or a forced spend-down later.
A transfer made today falls outside the nursing-home look-back once 60 months pass — that's why planning early matters.
How the house is actually at risk
New York Medicaid has strict financial limits — in 2026, a single applicant can keep only $32,396 in countable assets. A primary residence is often exempt while you live there, or while a spouse or certain relatives do. The danger comes afterward: through estate recovery, Medicaid can claim reimbursement from your estate after death, and a lien or a sale during life — for example, if you move permanently to a nursing home and no protected person remains in the home — can put the house on the table.
The 60-month look-back
You can't just deed the house to the kids on the way into a nursing home. Nursing-home Medicaid reviews all transfers made in the 60 months before applying, and gifts in that window trigger a penalty period of ineligibility. (A separate look-back for community, home-care Medicaid has been repeatedly delayed and is not in effect as of 2026.) The lesson: the earlier you plan, the more you protect.
Protecting the home with a Medicaid trust
The standard tool is a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust: you transfer the home into an irrevocable trust, keep the right to live there for life, and once the look-back passes, the house is generally protected from spend-down and estate recovery. Learn more at our Medicaid planning page.
How Schwartsman Law Group can help
Schwartsman Law Group PLLC builds Medicaid protection plans for New York homeowners. Founding attorney Marianna Schwartsman and her team serve clients from offices in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Manhasset, in English, Spanish, and Russian. Call +1 212 518 3868, email ms@schwartsmanlaw.com, or request a free consultation before the clock starts running.