Medicaid Estate Recovery in Texas

Medicaid Estate Recovery in Texas: key facts

Recovery scope

Covered Medicaid long-term care services received at age 55 or older — nursing facility services, intermediate care facility services, home and community-based services, and related hospital and prescription drug costs.

Who is subject

Recipients who were age 55 or older when the services were received and who initially applied for covered long-term care services on or after March 1, 2005, when the program began.

No recovery is sought when

There is a surviving spouse; a surviving child under 21; a surviving child of any age who is blind or permanently and totally disabled under Social Security requirements; an unmarried adult child who lived full-time in the Medicaid recipient's home for at least one year before the death; the value of the estate is $10,000 or less; the Medicaid cost is $3,000 or less; or the cost of selling the property is more than the property is worth.

Undue-hardship waiver

Heirs may apply for a full or partial waiver using Form 5006, Application for Hardship Waiver. The request must be made within 60 days of the date of the MERP Notice of Intent to File a Claim, and is mailed to MERP, Hardship Waiver Request, P.O. Box 13247, Austin, TX 78711. MERP decides within 40 days of receiving the request form and all required supporting documents. The state does not grant a hardship waiver unless heirs request it and supply the requested proof.

Homestead hardship waiver

A hardship waiver that applies only to the home. The first $100,000 of the homestead's tax appraisal district value is exempt from recovery when one or more siblings or direct descendants inheriting it have gross family income below 300 percent of the federal poverty level (HHSC published the 2025 limits as $46,950 for one person and $63,450 for a family of two, adjusted each year). Appraised value above $100,000 remains subject to recovery, and when only some heirs qualify, only their share of the homestead is exempt.

Governing law: 1 Tex. Admin. Code §§ 373.103, 373.207, 373.209, 373.215

Steps to take when someone dies

1. Determine whether the deceased received covered Medicaid long-term care services at age 55 or older and first applied for them on or after March 1, 2005.
2. Confirm whether the estate is removed from recovery — a surviving spouse, a child under 21, a blind or permanently and totally disabled child, an unmarried adult child who lived in the home full-time for at least a year before the death, an estate worth $10,000 or less, a Medicaid cost of $3,000 or less, or a property that costs more to sell than it is worth.
3. Contact MERP through HHSC to confirm whether a claim applies and request the amount.
4. Gather receipts for amounts that may be deducted, such as costs to maintain the home or to pay for care that kept the person at home longer.
5. Submit Form 5006, Application for Hardship Waiver, with proof if recovery would cause an undue hardship for the heirs — within 60 days of the date of the MERP Notice of Intent to File a Claim.

Frequently asked questions