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Is There a Status of Limitation on Medi-Cal Fraud?
A quit claim deed transferred real property from one party to an executrices so that the equity of the real property would not be used for the owner’s medical bills. The family was told that there was a will executed by the original owner of the property to be disseminate to the owner’s children in the event of death.
The original owner has pass away and the executrices has now claims that the total estate including the real property is all hers.
There is no record of the will in probate court or records, but prior to the death of the original owner the family had seem the will and has knowledge of the contents of the will, but the original copy was taken by the executrices; family members who were willed the property have maintained the property according to the wishes of the owner as well as paid taxes and property insurance. At the time of the transfer no one questioned the executrices because she is a family member.
Now, she has claimed that the documents that are required to prove she commented fraud are buried and time has given her the rights to the property and she transferred it to her two adult children.
The medi-cal documents were completed sometime in 1993 and the owner passed 12 years ago. The property had been transferred in segments co-owners they the original owner need major medical surgery so the entire property was transfer to the executrices now the family is concern that they have lost the gift of their mother and will be responsible for any accrued debt that will have to be paid back.
Also, is this one crime or two?
So, is there a status of limitation? I have researched the Medi-cal website but it does not cover what is fraud nor does it state a limitation.
Thank you for real answers.
In answer to your question the family has continue to ask the executrices for the will, but she has claimed that it did not exist no one knew who the attorney was who wrote the will but a lead was found but the attorney has stated that the deceased only made inquiries about a will and they did not have it filed. The same attorney mentioned that the probate does not began until it get filed in probate court so an appointment has been made, because it is believed that the cost of the medi-cal is more than the property is worth.
If you are talking about federal Medicaid, that statute of limitations is 10 years, if you are talking about California Medi-cal, it is four. These are the criminal statutes – meaning the fed or state governments will not prosecute after that length of time.
The family’s right to sue in civil court for fraud in California would be 3 years from time they discovered, or should have discovered, that the executrix committed a fraud to obtain the property for herself. That may be a tough hurdle at this point – shouldn’t the family have raised this long ago?
But, even if the family sued and recovered the property for the original owner’s estate, the estate would need to go through probate so that the property could pass to the heirs under the will or by state law of succession. When an estate is probated, possible creditors must be notified and be allowed to file claims. The claims against the estate for medical care might be greater than the value of the property.
If the family wishes to pursue this, they should consult with a probate lawyer.
EDIT – if you are talking about California, the family did not need to find the original will in order to go to probate court to sort things out. If they asked about this years ago and were advised that they could do nothing without the will, I think they received very bad advice indeed.
Again, if they wish to pursue this, they should see a different, better lawyer.