5D02-1016 Thompson v. DCF

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State: Florida

Court: Florida Fifth District Court

Docket No: 5D02-1016

Case Date: 01/20/2003

Preview:IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FIFTH DISTRICT JANUARY TERM 2003

STELLA THOMPSON, Appellant, v. DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, Appellee. CASE NO. 5D02-1016

_____________________________/ Opinion filed January 24, 2003 Administrative Appeal from the Department of Children and Families. David H. Jacoby, Palm Bay, for Appellant. Eric D. Dunlap and William D. Rowland, Orlando, for Appellee. PETERSON, J. Stella Thompson appeals a final order of the Department of Children and Families (DCF) that denied Ms. Thompson's application for Medicaid Institutional Care Program (ICP) benefits. Ms. Thompson, a 71-year-old woman suffering from a leg infection, transferred from a Virginia hospital to a Florida nursing home. At the hearing that led to the denial of ICP benefits, we note that no evidence was presented that Ms. Thompson's health would ever allow her to live outside of a nursing home. Indeed, it was reported that her health continues

to deteriorate. Ms. Thompson's sister, Josephine Greene, also lives in Florida near the nursing home caring for her sister. Three months after her sister's arrival in Florida, Ms. Greene used the power of attorney granted to her by her sister to purchase for her sister a life estate in a condominium apartment owned and occupied by herself. The life estate was for the term of Ms. Thompson's life, was purchased by a transfer of $18,250 from Ms. Thompson to Ms. Greene and the stated purpose of the purchase "was to ensure that [Ms. Thompson] would always has [sic] a place to live." Ms. Greene then applied for ICP benefits on behalf of her sister in order to pay for the nursing home room and board. DCF denied the benefits when it interpreted the $18,250 depletion of Ms. Thompson's assets as an improper transfer that was accomplished in order to meet the financial eligibility requirement of the ICP. It was DCF's view that Ms. Thompson failed to demonstrate that the fair market value of the life estate purchased in her sister's condominium had a significant value approaching the price paid of $18,250. A hearing was requested and held following the initial denial at which time Ms. Thompson's professional appraiser testified in support of the purchase price of $18,250. The appraisal was flawed in its assumption that Ms. Thompson is of "average health" and that there is an "open market" for life estates.1 The hearing officer found that although Ms. Thompson acquired some value for her purchased life estate, that value was not substantively

The appraiser had the difficult, if not impossible, task of supporting a value of $18,250 that would be paid by a willing purchaser who would be content to share a condominium apartment with a stranger, Ms. Greene, from the date of purchase to the date of death of a 71-year-old person with deteriorating health. 2

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shown. Neither was there any evidence to establish what proceeds would be expected if the life estate were to be sold on the open market in the geographical area. The final order resulting from the hearing concluded that "there was insufficient proof that the transfer occurred solely for a reason other than to become Medicaid eligible." The Medicaid program was enacted in 1965 as a cooperative federal-state endeavor designed to provide health care to needy individuals. 42 U.S.C.

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