Medicaid Planning

For the family whose loved one is already in a nursing home, or will be within weeks. Being over the limits today does not mean paying privately until the money runs out. Florida still allows lawful restructuring at the crisis stage, including a qualified income trust, spend down into exempt property, and in the right case a personal services contract.

Without it:Without crisis planning, families often pay privately for months that Medicaid would have covered.

Florida reviews the sixty months before your application month and presumes anything given away for less than fair market value in that window was transferred to qualify. The presumption can be rebutted. The penalty is figured by dividing the uncompensated value by the state's transfer divisor, listed at $10,645 a month on the July 2026 Appendix A-9.

Without it:Without pre-planning, one well meant gift to a grandchild can create a penalty period with no coverage and no money.

Florida is a maximum allowance state, so the spouse who stays home keeps the full federal Community Spouse Resource Allowance, $162,660 under the July 2026 standards, rather than half the couple's assets. The Minimum Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance, $2,705 a month, can also divert income to the spouse at home. Both figures reset annually, and we verify them at filing.

Without it:Without this planning, the healthy spouse can end up with far less than Florida law actually allows.

Florida's homestead is excluded as an asset regardless of value, though a separate home equity bar, $752,000 under the July 2026 standards, can block eligibility on its own. One vehicle, household goods, and certain prepaid funeral arrangements also sit outside the count. Estate recovery under Fla. Stat. 409.9101 belongs in the same conversation.

Without it:Without careful handling, a family sells the house for care and turns a protected asset into a countable one.

When gross monthly income exceeds Florida's cap, $2,982 for an individual under the July 2026 standards, the applicant is not disqualified. A qualified income trust is a funnel, not a hiding place: enough income goes into a dedicated account each month to bring countable income under the cap, and the state is named remainder beneficiary. It must be funded every single month, which is where do it yourself versions fail.

Without it:Without one, a retiree living on Social Security and a small pension is turned away for being a few hundred dollars over.

We prepare and file the application, assemble five years of financial records, answer Department of Children and Families requests before the deadlines run, and appeal denials the record supports. We also handle the annual redetermination so coverage does not lapse a year later.

Without it:Without representation, an application is often denied over a missing bank statement rather than a real disqualification.