State law allows the state to recover Medicaid benefits paid to a person during his or her life from his or her estate after death, under some circumstances. In a recent decision, the Court of Appeals held that the state’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) may recover monies paid by Medicaid programs from the estate of the individual who received the Medicaid benefits, after her death, even if the state did not provide “notice” of the potential recovery from the estate, before Medicaid benefits were paid. The court observed that In re Keyes Estate, 310 Mich App 266 (2015), lv den 498 Mich 968 (2016), the court of appeals previously addressed and decided the dispositive issues. The estate was personally apprised of the department’s actions seeking recovery from the estate, and the estate had the opportunity to contest the possible deprivation of its property in the probate court. Since it received both notice and a hearing, it received what due process requires in this area of law. Thus, the recovery of the full amount of Medicaid benefits sought by the state was permitted against the estate. The decision is In Re Lamarche Estate, unpublished Michigan Court of Appeals case 327428, decided September 22, 2016.
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