Under Idaho Code § 56-218, the state can recover medical assistance it paid on behalf of someone who was 55 or older at the time, subject to whatever federal exemptions and waivers apply. Recovery can reach that person's estate and, when relevant, a spouse's estate too, for assistance paid on behalf of either or both.

What makes Idaho's version notable is how far "estate" reaches. It isn't limited to what passes through probate — the statute explicitly folds in property the individual held through joint tenancy, tenancy in common, survivorship arrangements, life estates, living trusts, or other similar interests held at death. For a family assuming that avoiding probate automatically avoids recovery, Idaho's law says otherwise.

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