What Medicaid Planning Costs in Georgia
Each Medicaid planning service in Georgia has its own price range, from least to most comprehensive:
| Service |
What It Covers |
Cost |
| First call |
About 15 minutes by phone with Shawn. A conversation about what you have and what you want to protect |
Free at The Hive Law |
| Application assistance |
Documents, records, and Medicaid application filing |
$1,500–$3,000 |
| Qualified Income Trust (QIT) |
Required when monthly income exceeds the Medicaid limit |
$1,500–$2,500 |
| Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT) |
Can protect home and savings when funded 5 years ahead |
$6,500 |
| Spousal planning add-on |
Community spouse resource allowance, income diversion |
$500–$1,500 additional |
| Crisis planning package |
Application assistance, a Qualified Income Trust, a MAPT, and spousal planning combined on a compressed timeline |
Higher than advance planning |
The Medicaid Asset Protection Trust — What It Costs and What You Get
The Medicaid Asset Protection Trust is the primary legal tool Georgia families use to protect the home from the nursing home spend-down. It is also stronger protection against Medicaid estate recovery than a revocable trust, though no trust is a guarantee. At The Hive Law, a MAPT costs $6,500.
That price includes the trust document, a new deed transferring your home into the trust, a last will and testament, durable financial power of attorney, and health care directive. You do not pay separately for each document. The $6,500 covers the complete package.
The critical rule: you must fund the MAPT at least 5 years before applying for Medicaid. Medicaid’s look-back period is 60 months, a federal rule Georgia applies. Any assets transferred into a trust within that window are reviewed by Medicaid, and a penalty period, calculated by dividing the transferred amount by Georgia’s penalty divisor of $11,122 per month (April 2026), delays your coverage.
For a full explanation of how the look-back period works, see What Is the Medicaid 5-Year Lookback Period in Georgia?
Other Medicaid Planning Services and What They Cost
Application assistance ($1,500–$3,000). If you do not need a MAPT, perhaps because you have already spent down or only want to qualify quickly, an elder law attorney can gather your financial records, complete the Medicaid application, respond to the state’s requests, and prevent common errors that cause denials. Application assistance alone does not protect assets. It makes the application process go smoothly.
Qualified Income Trust ($1,500–$2,500). Georgia’s Medicaid income limit for nursing home coverage is $2,982 per month in 2026. If your Social Security, pension, or other monthly income exceeds that limit, you are not automatically disqualified, but you must place the excess into a Qualified Income Trust each month before it counts toward your income. A QIT costs $1,500 to $2,500 for the trust document and instructions for monthly deposits.
Spousal planning add-on ($500–$1,500). When one spouse needs nursing home Medicaid and the other does not, the community spouse can keep up to $162,660 in assets in 2026 under the Community Spouse Resource Allowance. The at-home spouse may also be entitled to a share of the nursing home spouse’s income under the Minimum Monthly Maintenance Needs Allowance. Documenting and structuring these protections correctly adds $500 to $1,500 to the base planning cost.
What Makes Medicaid Planning Cost More
Crisis timing. If you or a parent is already in a nursing home or facing admission within weeks, the planning window is compressed. Crisis planning costs more than planning ahead, because the attorney must move faster, coordinate with the facility, and work with a narrower set of legal options.
Married couples. Spousal protection rules add complexity. Community spouse resource allowance calculations, income diversion orders, and delayed estate recovery strategies require additional attorney time and documentation beyond the base MAPT package.
Multiple properties. A MAPT that holds a primary residence costs $6,500. Each additional property, a vacation home, rental property, or second parcel, requires a separate deed and adds to the total. Each additional deed beyond the home is priced separately.
Prior transfers within 60 months. If you or a parent gifted money or transferred property to children in the past five years, an elder law attorney must calculate the resulting penalty period and build a strategy around it. This adds time and cost to the planning process.
Crisis Planning vs. Advance Planning — Why Timing Changes the Cost
The biggest factor that determines what Medicaid planning costs is when you start.
More than 5 years before a nursing home. A MAPT costs $6,500. After the 60-month look-back period clears, Medicaid generally does not count the trust’s principal toward its $2,000 asset limit. Any income the trust pays you still counts. This is the lowest-cost, highest-protection scenario.
Less than 5 years before a nursing home. A MAPT can still be set up, but the look-back period will not have cleared by the time you apply. A penalty period applies to everything transferred within the 60-month window, at its full value. There is no credit for the time that has passed. The attorney must calculate the penalty, plan for how nursing home costs will be covered during the ineligibility period, and structure the remaining assets correctly.
Already in a nursing home. The full MAPT strategy is no longer available. What remains: protecting the community spouse’s assets, structuring income through a Qualified Income Trust, using Georgia’s exempt asset rules (the home is exempt while a spouse or dependent lives there), and, in some cases, a Medicaid-compliant annuity to convert countable assets into income. Crisis planning still helps, but the menu of options is smaller and the cost is higher than planning ahead.
What Medicaid Planning Saves You Compared to Spending Down
Georgia Medicaid requires you to spend down to $2,000 in countable assets before it pays for nursing home care. At Georgia’s 2025 median of about $9,429 a month for a private nursing home room (CareScout), a $100,000 savings account is gone in about 11 months.
A family with a $400,000 home and $100,000 in savings faces this calculation:
Without a plan: Savings spent down to $2,000 before Medicaid steps in. After death, Georgia’s Medicaid estate recovery program can file a claim against the estate, including the home, to recover what Medicaid paid during the nursing home stay.
With a MAPT funded more than 5 years before you apply: The $6,500 attorney fee is the main planning cost. Once the look-back clears, Medicaid generally does not count the home and savings in the MAPT. Medicaid can pay for care once you meet its other rules.
Under O.C.G.A. § 49-4-147.1, Georgia participates in Medicaid estate recovery. The state can file a claim against your estate after death to recover what Medicaid spent on your care. A properly structured MAPT, funded more than 60 months before you apply, is stronger protection against this claim than a revocable trust. The reason is not probate. It is that you no longer own the trust assets, and federal Medicaid law (42 U.S.C. § 1396p) lets a state claim only assets you still had a legal title or interest in when you died. 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.
For a full overview of Medicaid planning in Georgia, see What Is Medicaid Planning in Georgia?
How to Know If You Need Medicaid Planning Now
Call an elder law attorney now if any of these apply:
- You or a parent is age 60 or older and owns a home or has savings of more than $2,000
- A parent has a recent dementia or Alzheimer’s diagnosis. The 5-year look-back matters most here
- A parent is entering a nursing home or memory care facility within the next 60 to 90 days
- You have already gifted assets to family members in the past 5 years
- You are a married couple and one spouse needs long-term care now
