In a 7-0 decision, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in a case decided May 18, 2011, that the statutory time limit for the state to seek recovery from a decedent’s estate for Medicaid payments made by the state for the care of the deceased person does not begin to run until a required form reporting the decedent’s death has been filed with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS). In the case of In re Estate of Centorbi, 2010-0597, Slip Opinion No. 2011-Ohio-2267, the Court held that the state was not barred from filing suit to recover Medicaid benefits from the estate of Josephine Centorbi more than one year after the date of her death, because the administrator of her estate never filed a required form that would have alerted ODJFS that the decedent was a Medicaid recipient who died leaving an estate.

In a unanimous decision, Chief Justice O’Connor wrote that: “R.C. 2117.061 (B)(3) mandates that Fiorille, as the person responsible for the estate, complete a Medicaid estate-recovery reporting form within 30 days of filing the application to relieve the estate from administration. She did not do so. Consequently, the probate court was never informed that notice to the Medicaid estate-recovery program was required.”