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Does Medicaid take your house in Texas?
By Mickie Byrd, licensed Texas life insurance agent (NPN 22277248) · last reviewed 2026-07-11
While a person is alive, Texas Medicaid does not take the home to pay for long-term care. The home is generally protected while they live in it. It stays protected if they are away but intend to return.
After death, Texas runs a program called Medicaid Estate Recovery, or MERP. Texas Health and Human Services manages it. MERP can file a claim to recover long-term-care Medicaid that a person received at age 55 or older. The claim comes against the estate, not against the living family.
Here is the part that matters most in Texas. The claim can only reach what passes through probate. Property that passes another way, outside probate, is outside MERP's reach. So how the home is titled and passed can change whether the claim touches it at all.
The state does not file the claim in several cases. It does not file when a spouse is still living. It does not file when there is a child under 21. It does not file when there is a child of any age who is blind or has a disability. Texas also has hardship waivers, and the rules are published by Texas Health and Human Services.
Families get a letter after the death, called a MERP notice, and they can respond to it. An elder law lawyer can read a family's own situation and tell them what applies. Writing down that a loved one received this kind of Medicaid, and keeping the notice with the papers, saves the family from guessing later.
Common questions
- Will Texas take my house while I am alive?
- No. Texas Medicaid does not take the home for long-term care while you live there, or while you are away but intend to return.
- What is a MERP notice?
- It is the letter Texas Health and Human Services sends the family after death. It states the claim, and the family can respond to it.
- Are there cases where the state does not file?
- Yes. The state does not file when a spouse survives, when there is a child under 21, or when there is a child of any age who is blind or has a disability.
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