Fraudulent Transfer Laws and Nursing Home Claims

In some instances where a resident of a nursing home fails to qualify for Medicaid, the question may involve a transfer of a nonexempt asset by the resident or by someone (usually a family member) acting in place of the resident.  If the nursing home is not then paid privately, a debt is incurred. Depending on the specific reasons for a ruling of ineligibility, the nursing home, as an unpaid creditor, may be motivated to challenge the transfer as "fraudulent."  This in turn may trigger application of the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act (UFTA), as adopted in the specific state. 

Along that line, there is a new article, "Reconsidering the Uniformity of Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act," by Steven Boyajian, Esq., published this month in the American Bankruptcy Institute Journal.  The article outlines proposed amendments to the UFTA currently under consideration:

"The UFTA has been adopted in 43 states, Washington D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and has not been specifically amended in the 30 years since it was drafted. Despite the UFTA's admonition that it 'shall be applied and construed to ... make uniform the law with respect to subject of [the UFTA] among states enacting it,' portions of the UFTA have been subject to conflicting interpretations by courts nationwide....

 

Amendments being considered by the Drafting Committee proposed to resolve the conflicting judicial interpretations of the following issues:  (1) the effect of § 2's presumption of insolvency if a debtor was generally not paying its debts as they become due; (2) the standard of pleading and proof applicable to a claim that a transfer was made or obligation incurred 'with actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud any creditor'; and (3) the allocation of burdens with respect to the elements of a claim to avoid a constructively fraudulent transfer or obligation."

In outlining the proposals, the author emphasizes the continuing nature of the discussions about UFTA proposals.  One of the cases cited as part of the discussion is a nursing home collection case, Prairie Lakes Health Care System v. Wookey, 583 N.W. 2d 405 (S.D. 1998). 

Pennsylvania also has a case involving intepretation of a UFTA claim in the context of a nursing home collection matter.  In Presbyterian Medical Center v. Budd, 832 A.3d 1066 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2003), a nursing home plaintiff turned to Pennsylvania's filial support law as an alternative to a claim under UFTA, thereby permitting potential recovery against an adult child, without proof of fraud required.