It is standard advice to avoid co-mingle property of an older relative with your own money because it may be necessary to prove what belongs to each.  For instance, if your relative needs to apply for Medicaid it may be difficult to provide a clean trail of his or her assets and expenditures for five years prior to application as is required by Medicaid.

But the ultimate co-mingling is when families live on property owned by the older relative who never partitioned the property to deed individual parcels to the children or grandchildren. It is not unusual to see families who live and operate businesses off the property of an aging mother, father, or grandparent.  This can provide a great family support system and work for all parties involved.  Until it doesn’t. 

If the aging parent becomes sick enough to need nursing home placement and there are not enough liquid resources to pay for that, then the property will need to be liquidated to provide income to pay for nursing home care or to spend down assets before qualifying for Medicaid.  This leaves the relatives living on the property in a very precarious position.

If you are in this position, get legal advice now about what you can do to protect yourself and your aging relative before it becomes an emergency.