Ask the Expert: The estate must pay Mom's bill

You aren't legally responsible for your late mother's bill. Her estate is. Unfortunately, her estate includes the IRA. It may even include the joint account you owned with your father, which you inherited as the surviving joint owner when he died.

The reason is that under New York law, your mother, as your father's surviving spouse, was entitled to inherit one-third of his assets or $50,000, whichever is greater. That's what her creditors can claim from her estate. (This spousal entitlement, which is called "the right of election," overrides anything in a decedent's will. It can, however, be waived in a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement.)

If the IRA your mother inherited from your dad isn't big enough to cover her one-third entitlement, her estate -- and therefore her creditors -- can claim the shortfall from the joint account that he owned with you, says Bernard A. Krooks, a Manhattan elder-law attorney.

If Medicaid pays your mother's nursing home bill, it can claim the payment from her estate. But her inheritance from your dad may disqualify her for Medicaid, Krooks says. If so, the nursing home bill must be paid by the estate.