A Mississippi a man who transferred oil interests on his property to
his girlfriend in order to conceal them from Medicaid is not entitled
to get the interests back, a state appeals court has ruled.

Following his father’s death, Rickey Ellzey inherited some
property. In 1994, Mr. Ellzey had a heart transplant and he qualified
for Medicaid. While he was receiving Medicaid benefits, he learned that
an oil well on the inherited property was beginning to produce and that
he soon would be receiving royalty checks. Believing that these checks
might "have a detrimental effect on his overall health" by affecting
his Medicaid eligibility, Mr. Ellzey executed a deed giving his mineral
interests in the property to his girlfriend, Sherry James, with the
intent that she would return the interests back to him after 14 months.

Ms. James did sign a deed to return the mineral interests, but
it was never recorded and the original of this document was lost. After
the 14 months had passed, Ms. James refused to give the interests back
to Mr. Ellzey, and he filed a complaint in court, asking for their
return. The court noted that it could accept a copy of the deed but
that it would not do so in this case because that would "help him
recover what he lost by defrauding the State of Mississippi." Mr.
Ellzey appealed.

The Mississippi Court of Appeals agrees with the lower court,
holding that Mr. Ellzey is not entitled to have a court remedy a
problem that he created by his own fraudulent act. According to the
court, Mr. Ellzey could not use the court’s "hands to draw equity from
a source his own hands ha[d] polluted."

Had Mr. Ellzey placed his mineral interests in a trust, or used other available planning methods, he would not have been accused of committing a "fraudulent act", and would not have required court assistance to regain title of his property. His failure to utilize the services of an experienced Elder Law attorney resulted in the loss of his inheritance.  To download the full text of this decision, Ellzey v. James (Miss. Ct. App., No. 2006-CA-00758-COA, November 20, 2007). in PDF format, go to: http://www.mssc.state.ms.us/Images/Opinions/CO44777.pdf.