Probate & Trust Law Section Conference Manual ... - Minnesota CLE

that portion of long-term care services provided within:
(i) 30 months of a transfer made on or before
August 10, 1993;
(ii) 60 months of a transfer if the assets were
transferred after August 30, 1993, to a trust or
portion of a trust that is considered a transfer of
assets under federal law;
(iii) 36 months of a transfer if transferred in any
other manner after August 30, 1993, but prior to
February 8, 2006; or
(iv) 60 months of any transfer made on or after
February 8, 2006,
or the amount of the uncompensated transfer, whichever
is less, together with the costs incurred due to
the action; . . . .
2. In 2009, Douglas County attempted to assert this cause of action
against the son and daughter of Marlys Lindgren after Douglas
County approved a hardship waiver for Marlys. The penalty was
imposed because of the transfer of Marlys' homestead to her
children during the applicable look-back period. Douglas County
v. Alexandra Kjerstyn Lindgren and Bruce Dale Lindgren, Dist.
Ct. File No. 21-CV-09-477. Attorney JoEllen Doebbert of
Alexandria, Minnesota, represented the defendants.
3. In this case, Dale and Marlys Lindgren transferred their homestead
to their two adult children, half in December 2003 and the other
half in March of 2004. Marlys Lindgren entered a nursing home in
November of 2004 and applied for medical assistance benefits in
late December 2005. Douglas County imposed a penalty period for
the transfers. Marlys appealed. In August of 2007, while the
appeal was still pending, the nursing home requested a waiver of
the penalty period due to the nursing home's threat to evict Marlys
for non-payment of charges. Douglas County granted the waiver
and paid the nursing home retroactive to January 2006. Upon
learning of the waiver, the DHS judge dismissed the appeal as
moot. Douglas County then commenced an action under Minn.
Stat. § 256B.0595, subd. 4, clause (5), to recover the amount of the
uncompensated transfers to apply against the benefits paid to the
nursing home prior to Marlys' death on October 13, 2009.
4. The defendants in Lindgren cited federal law which allows recovery
of medical assistance benefits correctly paid only as allowed by
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