Out of state medical liens

We recently received a document from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services that would place a lien for medical assistance provided on property in Massachusetts owned by the person to whom the assistance was provided. Under the general rule that a court or governmental agency in one state has no jurisdiction over real property located in another state, we returned the document without recording it. That, in turn, led to communications between me and representatives of the New Hampshire Agency. In the end, I was convinced that Federal Medicaid law does grant this type of power to the state agency which is administering Medicaid. Although we share common borders with other states, it is not a scenario that arises with any frequency. I invited the New Hampshire people to resend their lien. I will also add this issue to the list of items that will be considered for inclusion in the next update to the Massachusetts Deed Indexing Standards.