Long-Term Care Funding in Delaware

Why Delaware runs differently

Delaware Medicaid is administered by the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance (DMMA). Its long-term-care offerings include Nursing Facility Care and home- and community-based services; for older adults and people with physical disabilities, Diamond State Health Plan Plus (DSHP-Plus) is the mandatory managed-care long-term-services-and-supports program (DMMA Long Term Care Medicaid Programs; DMMA DSHP-Plus overview).

Delaware now has a genuine statutory transfer-on-death deed. The Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act applies to deeds made before, on, or after December 4, 2025 when the transferor dies on or after that date; during the owner’s life, the statute says the deed does not affect the owner’s or beneficiary’s eligibility for public assistance (Delaware Code, Uniform Real Property Transfer on Death Act).

Delaware’s 2026 numbers at a glance

Home title and estate recovery are separate questions

Delaware’s long-term-care regulation defines an estate as real property and personal property constituting assets of the individual’s estate under Title 12, Chapter 19, a probate-law reference. The same policy permits recovery after death or sale of liened property for covered long-term-care assistance, subject to surviving-spouse and child protections and published hardship procedures (Delaware Social Services Manual, Medicaid Long Term Care).

A TOD deed can avoid ordinary probate transfer mechanics, but it is not a blanket Medicaid-recovery result. Delaware’s TOD law says the estate may enforce an allowed claim against TOD property when the probate estate is insufficient, and the statute gives the estate eight months after death to commence that proceeding (Delaware TOD deed statute). That is why title, estate claims, eligibility, tax, and recovery need to be reviewed together rather than assuming a deed settles every consequence.

The ten Delaware topics in this cluster

These pages organize Delaware’s current published program rules for a family comparing facility care, care at home, transfers, a new TOD deed, veterans benefits, and insurance. They are educational rather than an eligibility determination or legal advice. Confirm a proposed gift, trust, deed, Medicaid application, or insurance purchase with DMMA and a Delaware elder-law attorney before acting.