A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT) is an irrevocable trust you move your home or savings into while you are still healthy, as a way to plan ahead for nursing home costs. Once five years have passed since you moved assets into a MAPT, Georgia Medicaid generally does not count the trust’s principal when it decides if you qualify for nursing home care. Any income the trust pays you still counts as your income.
It is one of the most effective legal tools available to Georgia families who want to protect their savings and home from long-term care expenses.
How a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust Works
When you create a MAPT, you transfer assets, typically your home and significant savings, into the trust. You give up direct ownership of those assets. The trust holds them, and an independent trustee manages them according to the trust terms.
You no longer own the assets directly. After the five-year lookback period has passed, Medicaid generally does not count the trust’s principal toward its asset limit. Any income the trust pays you still counts as your income.
During your lifetime, you can typically retain the right to live in your home and receive income generated by trust assets. You cannot take the principal back.
What Assets Go Into a MAPT?
The most common assets placed into a MAPT are:
- Your primary residence
- Investment accounts and savings beyond your emergency reserve
- Rental property
- Vacation property
You keep liquid assets outside the trust for day-to-day living and healthcare costs. The goal is to protect the assets most at risk of being consumed by a nursing home stay.
The Five-Year Lookback Rule
When you ask Medicaid to pay for nursing home care, Medicaid looks back five years (60 months) under 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(c). Assets you moved into the trust more than five years before that are outside the look-back, so that move causes no transfer penalty. If you moved them less than five years before, the full value counts toward the penalty. You do not get credit for the time that has passed.
The penalty does not start on the day you made the move. It starts once you are in care, have applied, and would qualify for Medicaid if not for the move. During the penalty, Medicaid will not pay the nursing home. Georgia’s Medicaid rules set no limit on how long a penalty can last.
This is the most important reason to fund a MAPT early, ideally in your 60s or early 70s, well before any health crisis. If you wait until you need care, what you move into the trust will usually still be inside the five-year look-back.
MAPT vs. Revocable Living Trust
A revocable living trust is excellent for avoiding probate, but it does not protect assets from Medicaid. Because you can change or revoke a revocable trust, the assets inside it are still considered yours for Medicaid purposes.
A MAPT is irrevocable. You cannot take assets back, and that is exactly what makes it work for Medicaid planning. If your goal is both probate avoidance and Medicaid protection, you may need both types of trusts.
Who Should Create a MAPT?
A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust makes sense if:
- You are in your 60s or 70s with significant assets you want to protect
- You have a family history of conditions requiring long-term care
- You own your home and want stronger protection for it from Georgia Medicaid estate recovery than a revocable trust gives
- You have savings beyond what you need for day-to-day living
It is not right for everyone. If you are already in a nursing home or expect to enter one soon, anything you move into a MAPT now would be inside the five-year look-back, and its full value would count toward a penalty. Other strategies may be more appropriate in that situation.
Georgia Medicaid Estate Recovery
Even if you qualify for Medicaid, Georgia can attempt to recover what it paid from your estate after you die. If your home is not in a MAPT, it is a primary target. Transferring your home to a MAPT early is stronger protection than a revocable trust. Because you no longer own the home, it is generally outside what Georgia can claim after you die. But Georgia’s rules do mention trusts. Any income or right to live in the home that you keep may still count. And no Georgia court has settled the question. No trust is a guarantee.
Next Steps
Creating a MAPT requires working with an elder law attorney who understands Georgia Medicaid rules. The trust has to be drafted to follow Medicaid’s rules. Georgia’s Medicaid agency still reviews every application and makes the decision.
The Hive Law helps Georgia families set up Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts as part of a complete elder law plan. The first step is a free 15-minute call with Shawn. If a MAPT fits your situation, the next step is a Design Meeting with Shawn and Melissa, where we review your assets and explain what a MAPT would protect and what it would cost.
