An appellate panel reversed a Riverside Superior Court probate ruling that granted an extra $480,000 in inheritance, finding it instead should have been paid to the California Department of Health Care Services.
The California Department of Health Care Services had appealed the ruling.
Joseph Snukst used $480,000 through Medi-Cal, which California and federal law dictates be recovered by the Department of Health Care Services after a recipient dies, if the recipient is older than 55 and does not have children younger than 21.
Snukst had bought an annuity in 2004 that valued $804,000 at the time of his death on July 29, 2016.
He was under the conservatorship of the Riverside County Public Guardian at the time.
The department requested the funds from the public guardian Nov. 28, 2016, according to the ruling.
Funds denied
Riverside Superior Judge Thomas Cahraman denied the department’s request for the funds, and granted the whole trust to Joseph’s stated beneficiary, the deceased’s niece Shawna Snukst, according to the ruling.
Cahraman first found that the annuity ceased to be a conservatorship asset upon Joseph’s death, and became an asset of the trust, according to the ruling. Thus, the public guardian had no authority to use the funds from the annuity to pay the department.
After the public guardian submitted an amended accounting request to pay the department, Cahraman denied it without an explanation Feb. 24, 2020, according to the ruling.
Despite the ruling, property once held by the decedent and transferred to heirs by a trust is subject to recovery, according to Maxwell-Jolly v. Martin (2011), the appellate panel said.
Parties
Attorneys General Xavier Becerra and Rob Bonta; Cheryl L. Feiner, Assistant Attorney General; Gregory D. Brown, Jennifer G. Perkell and Hadara R. Stanton, Deputy Attorneys General appeared for the California Department of Health Care Services.
Armand Tinkerian of the Law Office of Armand Tinkerian appeared for Snukst.
Riverside County Public Guardian did not appear.
Read the ruling here.
Case no: E074949
Riverside Case no: RIP1500200
