No. A nursing home or assisted living facility in California cannot take your house, or your mother’s. The claim families worry about comes from the State of California after death, through Medi-Cal estate recovery, and since 2017 it reaches only property that passes through probate. A surviving spouse, or a child who is under 21, blind, or disabled, blocks it.
TLDR
- Nursing homes and assisted living facilities in California have no legal power to take a resident’s house, and a nursing home that accepts Medicare or Medi-Cal cannot require a family member to guarantee the bill.
- Medi-Cal does not count the home a person lives in, or a home they intend to return to from a nursing facility, toward the $130,000 asset limit that took effect January 1, 2026.
- Medi-Cal looks back 30 months at gifts and below-value transfers of counted assets made on or after January 1, 2026.
- The State of California can seek repayment after death through Medi-Cal estate recovery, but for deaths since January 1, 2017, only from assets that go through probate.
- A person with dementia is presumed able to sign unless the evidence shows otherwise, and when they can’t, a durable power of attorney or a court-supervised conservatorship decides who can sell.
Most families start asking this question the same week a parent moves into care. Someone at the hospital mentions Medi-Cal, a cousin swears the state took their grandpa’s house, and all of a sudden the home your mom has lived in for decades feels like it’s on a clock.
Moving a parent into care is one of the hardest things a family goes through, and nobody should have to become a Medi-Cal expert on top of it.
The fear makes sense, and it comes from something real. But a lot of what gets passed around is out of date, especially anything written before California changed its estate recovery rules in 2017 and brought back its Medi-Cal asset limit in 2026.
Nursing Homes and Assisted Living Facilities Can’t Take a House
A nursing home in California has no legal right to take a resident’s house. It’s a care provider that bills for its services, and if a bill goes unpaid, the facility is a creditor like any other. It can send the account to collections, sue over the debt, or file a claim against the estate after a death, and none of that puts its name on the deed.
Assisted living works the same way. An assisted living community charges rent and care fees under a contract, and its only path to the house is collecting a debt. Medi-Cal’s Assisted Living Waiver can pay for care services in participating counties, including Los Angeles and Orange, but the Department of Health Care Services requires residents to cover their own room and board. We go deeper on that situation in our post about a parent in assisted living.
Families also worry about being on the hook themselves. A nursing home that takes Medicare or Medicaid “must not request or require a third party guarantee of payment” as a condition of admission or continued stay, under federal nursing home rules. If an admission agreement asks you to personally guarantee your parent’s bill, ask about that line before you sign anything.
So when someone says the nursing home took the house, they almost always mean Medi-Cal.
Do You Have to Sell Your House to Go Into a Nursing Home?
No, your parent does not have to sell the house to move into a nursing home in California, and they don’t have to sell it to qualify for Medi-Cal either. Medi-Cal’s asset limit returned on January 1, 2026, at $130,000 for one person, and the home is not counted toward it. In its 2026 eligibility letter, the Department of Health Care Services says that if you live in a nursing facility and own a home you intend to return to, “it is exempt as the primary home.”
Where families get caught is the sale itself. Once the house sells, the money from it isn’t an exempt home anymore. It’s cash, and cash counts, so a parent on Medi-Cal who sells a house worth several hundred thousand dollars can go from eligible to over the limit on the day escrow closes.
None of that makes selling the wrong choice. Plenty of families sell so a parent can pay privately for a care home they like better, and that’s a reasonable plan when it’s done on purpose, with the timing worked out ahead of time. We walk through those numbers in our post on selling to qualify for Medi-Cal.
How Far Back Does Medi-Cal Look at Transfers?
California’s Medi-Cal look-back period is 30 months. For transfers made on or after January 1, 2026, Medi-Cal reviews gifts and below-value transfers of counted assets made in the 30 months before your parent entered the facility, according to the same DHCS letter. Anything transferred between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2025, while California had no asset limit, is left out.
That’s the rule behind searches like “how far back can a nursing home take your house.” The nursing home isn’t looking back at anything. Medi-Cal is, and what it’s looking for is money or property given away, or sold for less than it’s worth, to get under the limit. A penalty doesn’t take the house either. It delays when Medi-Cal starts paying for nursing facility care, and the family covers the gap.
You’ll also see people online say five years. That’s the 60-month rule in federal Medicaid law under Social Security Act section 1917, which most other states follow, and California uses 30 months.
The State’s Claim Comes After Death, Through Estate Recovery
The State of California can ask to be repaid after a Medi-Cal member dies, and that process is called Medi-Cal estate recovery. It’s what people usually mean when they say the state took the house.
Recovery only applies to care received at age 55 or older. For anyone who died on or after January 1, 2017, the DHCS estate recovery rules limit repayment “only to estate assets subject to probate that were owned by the deceased beneficiary at the time of death.” The services it can bill for got narrower at the same time, down to nursing facility care, home and community-based services, and the hospital and prescription costs tied to them. The claim can’t be larger than what Medi-Cal paid or the value of what’s left in the estate after debts, whichever is less, according to the LA County DPSS policy.
The state also doesn’t take a house while your parent is alive. The same Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services policy says liens generally aren’t placed on a primary residence while the Medi-Cal member intends to return home or an exempt family member lives there.
How the claim works once a parent has passed is its own topic, and we cover the letters, deadlines, and payoff in our post on Medi-Cal claims after death.
What Keeps Estate Recovery Away From the House
Four things keep a Medi-Cal estate recovery claim off a house in California.
- A surviving spouse or registered domestic partner. When a Medi-Cal member is survived by a spouse, the state can’t pursue recovery from the estate, under the Los Angeles County DPSS estate recovery policy.
- A child who is under 21, blind, or disabled. A surviving child who was under 21 at the time of death, or who is blind or disabled under the Social Security Act definition, also stops a claim.
- A house that doesn’t go through probate. Because recovery since 2017 reaches only probate assets, a house held in a funded living trust or passed by a transfer on death deed generally sits outside it. Here are some ways to avoid probate if the house isn’t set up that way yet.
- A hardship waiver. DHCS can waive its claim when paying it would cause substantial hardship, and the request is due within 60 days of the date on the claim letter. One recognized hardship is a “homestead of modest value,” a home worth 50 percent or less of the average home price in its county at the time of death.
The trust point is where old advice goes wrong most often. You’ll still find articles, including an earlier version of this one, saying a revocable trust doesn’t protect the house from Medi-Cal. That was true before 2017, and for deaths since then it isn’t, because a house in a funded living trust never becomes part of the probate estate the state can reach. If your parent signed a trust years ago, it’s worth checking with the attorney who drafted it that the house was deeded into it, because a trust that never received the deed doesn’t do anything for the house.
When none of those apply, the claim is paid from the estate, often out of the proceeds when the house sells, before the heirs receive their share.
Can a Person With Dementia Sell Their House?
Yes, a person with dementia can often still sell their own house in California, as long as they understand the sale when they sign. California law starts from the presumption that everyone has capacity, and Probate Code section 810 says a person with a mental or physical disorder “may still be capable of contracting, conveying” property. A diagnosis alone doesn’t decide it. What the law looks at is whether your parent can understand the sale, what they’re giving up, and what they’re getting in return.
When dementia has moved past that point, someone else has to sign, and there are two ways that happens.
A durable power of attorney, signed while your parent still had capacity, can give a family member authority over real estate. The escrow and title company will review the document before closing to confirm it covers a sale.
Without one, the family usually has to ask the court for a conservatorship of the estate, which puts a court-appointed conservator in charge of your parent’s finances. The Orange County Superior Court’s self-help guide notes that when a conservator wants to sell the conservatee’s home, a court investigator reviews it and reports to the judge, so the sale runs on the court’s timeline and not the family’s. If your mom or dad is in the early stages, the gentler route is a conversation with an elder law attorney while they can still sign a power of attorney themselves.
Transferring the House to a Child Carries Its Own Costs
Putting the house in a child’s name before a parent goes into a nursing home is legal, and families ask about it all the time. The catch is what it costs later, and the costs land on the child.
A house you receive as a gift keeps your parent’s original tax basis, while a house you inherit takes its fair market value on the date of death as its basis, according to IRS Publication 551. That second rule is called a stepped-up basis, and on a house your parents bought decades ago the difference can mean a large capital gains bill when you eventually sell.
Property taxes can change too. Under Proposition 19, a parent-to-child transfer keeps the parent’s lower assessed value only if the child makes it their principal residence and files for the homeowners’ exemption within a year, and only up to the current taxable value plus $1,000,000, as adjusted, per the California State Board of Equalization.
And once the deed is signed, the house belongs to your child, along with their debts and their decisions.
This is elder law attorney territory, and it’s worth a consult before anyone records a deed.
What Families Usually Do With the House
Some families keep the house, some rent it out, and some sell it to pay for care or to settle the estate after a parent passes. If your parent is on Medi-Cal and plans to go home, or the house is in good shape and nobody is in a hurry, selling to a cash buyer probably isn’t your best move, and a listing with an agent or simply holding the house may serve you better.
We lay out each path in our guide to selling to pay for care, the practical steps are in our post on a parent’s nursing home move, and if the house is headed through court, the probate sale process has its own rules.
If You’re Weighing a Sale
If you’ve read this far, you’re probably carrying a care decision and a house decision at the same time, and that’s a lot for one family.
Mrs. Property Solutions buys houses directly from families across Los Angeles County and Southern California, as-is, and we work around a parent’s move into care with a closing date you choose, a leaseback after closing if your parent needs more time, and a cleanout of anything the family doesn’t want to keep.
We’ve been doing this since 2016, we’ve bought 150+ homes, and we’ve earned 50+ five-star reviews. You don’t make repairs or pay commissions, and the offer we make is the offer we honor at closing.
If you’d like to talk it through, you can reach Cristina’s team here or call (626) 344-9579. Talking with us doesn’t commit you to anything.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the nursing home take my mother’s house?
No. A nursing home in California cannot take your mother’s house. If her bill goes unpaid, the facility can pursue the debt like any other creditor, but it cannot take the deed. The claim families usually worry about is Medi-Cal estate recovery, which the State of California can make only after death and only against probate assets.
Can the state take your house to pay for a nursing home?
Not while your parent is alive. After death, the State of California can seek repayment through Medi-Cal estate recovery for care received at 55 or older. For deaths since January 1, 2017, the claim reaches only assets that go through probate, and it is barred when there is a surviving spouse or a child under 21, blind, or disabled.
How far back does Medi-Cal look at transfers in California?
Thirty months. For transfers made on or after January 1, 2026, Medi-Cal reviews gifts and below-value transfers of counted assets made in the 30 months before a person enters a nursing facility. Transfers made between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2025, are not included, according to the California Department of Health Care Services.
Can assisted living take your house?
No. An assisted living community in California has no legal right to take a resident’s house, and it can only collect an unpaid bill like any other creditor. Medi-Cal’s Assisted Living Waiver pays for care services in participating counties, including Los Angeles, but residents must pay their own room and board.
Do you have to sell your house to go into a nursing home in California?
No. Medi-Cal does not count the home toward its $130,000 asset limit, and a nursing home resident who intends to return home keeps that exemption. Selling changes the picture, because the sale money counts as cash. Families who sell to pay privately for care should plan the timing with an elder law attorney first.
Can a person with dementia sell their house in California?
Yes, if they understand the sale at the time they sign. California Probate Code section 810 presumes capacity and says a diagnosis alone does not decide it. When a parent can no longer understand the transaction, a family member needs a durable power of attorney that covers real estate or a court-appointed conservatorship of the estate.
Does a living trust protect a house from Medi-Cal estate recovery?
Yes, for deaths on or after January 1, 2017. California limits Medi-Cal estate recovery to assets that go through probate, and a house held in a funded living trust passes outside probate. Older advice saying a revocable trust gives no protection reflects the rules before 2017. An estate planning attorney can confirm the trust is properly funded.
Am I responsible for my parent’s nursing home bill?
Generally no. Federal rules bar nursing homes that accept Medicare or Medicaid from requiring a third party to guarantee payment as a condition of admission or continued stay. Signing admission papers as your parent’s representative is different from agreeing to pay personally, so ask about any guarantee language before signing.