A client came to us from Brooklyn recently. Her mother needed nursing home care and was in the middle of the Medicaid application process. The family was counting on an inheritance from the grandmother’s estate to pay for care during the Medicaid look-back period. Then, an estranged uncle contested the grandmother’s will. Suddenly, the estate was frozen by the Surrogate’s Court, the inheritance was inaccessible, and the mother’s Medicaid application was in jeopardy. This is a scenario we see more often than you might think—a family legal dispute colliding with the urgent needs of an elder.
When these two worlds meet, the family is caught in a difficult bind. The will contest must play out according to the rules of the court, a process that prioritizes legal validity over a family’s immediate financial pressures. Meanwhile, the Medicaid agency has its own rigid set of rules about assets and income. It will not wait for a family dispute to resolve itself.
The Surrogate’s Court Standstill
A will contest begins within a probate proceeding when an interested party—typically an heir who feels they were unfairly left out—files objections to the will. This action halts the administration of the estate. The person named as executor cannot distribute any assets, pay heirs, or finalize the decedent’s affairs until the court rules on the will’s validity.
The court’s only objective is to determine if the will presented is the true last testament of the deceased. Was it signed correctly? Was the person of sound mind? Was there any fraud or undue influence? These questions can take months, or even years, to answer through depositions, document requests, and potentially a trial. While this happens, the assets are under the court’s supervision. They are untouchable.
For a family relying on that inheritance to fund long-term care for a spouse or parent, this judicial freeze is disastrous. The money is legally theirs in theory, but in practice, it might as well be on the moon.
Grounds for a Will Challenge in New York
Not just anyone can contest a will, and they cannot do it simply because they are unhappy with their inheritance. The person challenging the will, known as the objectant, must have legal “standing”—meaning they would have inherited more if the will were proven invalid. They must also assert specific legal grounds for the challenge.
In my practice, I see a few common allegations:
- Lack of Testamentary Capacity: The claim that the person signing the will was not of sound mind and did not understand what they were signing, what assets they owned, or who their natural heirs were.
- Undue Influence: The argument that a third party—often a caregiver, new friend, or opportunistic family member—coerced the testator, overpowering their free will for personal gain.
- Improper Execution: A technical challenge. The will was not signed and witnessed according to the strict formalities required by New York law. Every detail matters, from the number of witnesses to the order of the signatures.
- Fraud or Forgery: An assertion that the signature on the will is a fake or that the testator was tricked into signing a document they did not believe was their will.
Before an objectant can even file a formal challenge, New York law—specifically Surrogate’s Court Procedure Act § 1404—gives them the right to question the witnesses to the will and the attorney who drafted it under oath. This pre-objection discovery is a powerful tool. It is often where the strength—or weakness—of a potential contest is revealed.
The Medicaid Impasse
While the will contest proceeds in Surrogate’s Court, the Medicaid application is happening in a separate universe with its own non-negotiable rules. This is where the true problem lies.
Medicaid has extremely low asset limits for applicants. To qualify for long-term care benefits, an individual must have “spent down” their resources to a minimal level. An expected inheritance, even one tied up in court, is often considered a countable—though unavailable—asset. The agency’s position is that the applicant has a legal right to the money, and that right has value, even if the cash is not in hand.
This creates an impossible situation. The applicant cannot access the inheritance to pay for their care privately. But because they have a legal claim to it, they do not qualify for Medicaid. They are trapped. The contest extends the spend-down period, forcing the family to deplete other personal savings to cover the high cost of care while they wait for a resolution.
If the contest drags on and the applicant’s own funds run out, they may be forced to leave a care facility or be left with no way to pay for home health aides. The actions of one relative can have devastating consequences for the health and well-being of another.
When a probate dispute and a Medicaid application intersect, time is not on your side. The first step is to get a clear picture of both legal proceedings. If you are serving as an executor or are a beneficiary in this situation, gather all documents related to the will contest and the Medicaid application. From there, we can conduct a strategic review to determine how the proceedings in Surrogate’s Court might be managed to support—or at least not harm—the application for long-term care.
