Medicaid Estate Recovery in Mississippi

Medicaid Estate Recovery in Mississippi: key facts

Recovery scope

Payments for nursing facility services, home- and community-based services, and related hospital and prescription drug services (Miss. Code § 43-13-317).

Who is subject

Recipients who were 55 years of age or older when they received the assistance.

Division threshold

The Division states recovery applies where the recipient was in a nursing facility, enrolled in a home- and community-based services waiver, or receiving hospice at the time of death, and owned assets valued at $5,000 or more.

No Medicaid lien

Mississippi has no Medicaid lien law and does not use TEFRA liens; recovery is made from the estate after death, not by a lien on the home during the recipient's life.

Claim waived

If there is a surviving spouse; or a surviving dependent under 21 or who is blind or disabled; or if undue hardship is determined under federal law and regulation.

Homestead waiver

The Division waives its claim on real property where the recipient claimed the homestead exemption and a surviving child or grandchild is entitled to the continuing homestead exemption (Medicaid v. Estate of Darby, No. 2010-CA-0035-COA), if documented.

Undue hardship grounds

Reviewed case by case; grounds the Division lists include a sole income-producing asset of survivors with limited income, an estate of modest value (under $5,000), and a caregiving adult relative who lived in the home for at least a year before the recipient entered a nursing home or waiver program and now depends on it for a home.

ABLE accounts excluded

Since July 1, 2025, Miss. Code § 43-13-317(3) exempts Mississippi ABLE accounts from estate recovery, and § 43-28-23(2) keeps an ABLE account and funds distributed from it at the beneficiary's death outside the "estate" for recovery purposes (Laws 2025, ch. 362).

Creditor notice

The Division is noticed as an identified creditor against the estate of a deceased Medicaid recipient under Miss. Code § 91-7-145.

Notice and hearing

The Division mails the family a letter stating what Medicaid paid. The family may request an administrative hearing on the stated property value or the claim figure; the Division notes a hearing may be unnecessary if a Division attorney can resolve the discrepancy.

Governing law: Miss. Code § 43-13-317 (as amended by Laws 2025, ch. 362); Miss. Code § 91-7-145; 42 U.S.C. 1396p

Steps to take when someone dies

1. Determine whether the deceased received Medicaid for nursing facility, home- and community-based, or related hospital or prescription drug services at age 55 or older.
2. Contact the Mississippi Division of Medicaid at 800-421-2408 to confirm whether a recovery claim applies and request the amount.
3. Address the claim as a debt of the estate, where the Division is noticed as a creditor under Miss. Code § 91-7-145, before distributing assets to heirs.
4. Request a waiver if there is a surviving spouse, a surviving dependent under 21 or who is blind or disabled, or if applying the claim would work an undue hardship.
5. Document the homestead exemption and the surviving child or grandchild entitled to continue it if the estate's real property was the recipient's homestead, which the Division treats as grounds to waive its claim.
6. Request the administrative hearing offered in the Division's letter if the stated property value or claim figure is wrong.

Frequently asked questions