The Hive Law
Long-Term Care Planning in Georgia
A legal strategy for protecting your assets and care decisions before a health crisis forces a spend-down.
Planning for Long-Term Care in Georgia Before a Crisis Forces It
Seven out of ten Georgians over 65 will need long-term care. The average stay lasts three years and costs over $300,000. Long-term care planning happens before a diagnosis — using trusts, Medicaid strategy, and insurance together — so the cost does not wipe out everything your family spent a lifetime building.
Here Is What Happens When You Need Long-Term Care Without a Plan
Most people will need some form of long-term care. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that 70 percent of people turning 65 will need it at some point. The average nursing home in Georgia costs $7,500 to $9,000 per month. A year of care can cost more than most families saved in a decade.
What Medicare Covers and What It Does Not
Medicare pays for up to 100 days in a skilled nursing facility after a qualifying hospital stay. It does not pay for custodial care. Custodial care is help with bathing, dressing, eating, and moving around. That is what most people in a nursing home need. After Medicare’s 100 days run out, the bill is yours. Most families do not find this out until they are already paying it.
What Medicaid Covers in Georgia
Medicaid covers nursing home care in Georgia, but only after you spend your assets down to $2,000. Your home may be exempt while you are alive. After you die, Georgia’s Medicaid Estate Recovery Program files a claim against your estate to recover what Medicaid paid. You do not keep the house. The state collects it from your estate.
Medicaid does not cover assisted living in Georgia. If you need help with daily activities but not full nursing home care, you pay out of pocket. The gap between independent living and nursing home eligibility is entirely your expense. For many families, this is the most expensive and least expected part of long-term care.
What the Spend-Down Looks Like in Practice
A married couple has $350,000 in savings. One spouse enters a nursing home at $8,000 per month. In 2026, the Community Spouse Resource Allowance lets the healthy spouse keep approximately $148,620. The rest must be spent before Medicaid helps. At $8,000 per month, that is about 25 months of private pay. Over $200,000 gone before Medicaid covers a single day.
The Five-Year Look-Back Rule
Medicaid reviews all asset transfers made in the five years before you apply. If you gave away property or put assets into a trust during that window, Medicaid will impose a penalty period. The penalty is calculated using Georgia’s monthly divisor of $10,965. A $100,000 transfer results in roughly nine months of ineligibility. The five-year rule means planning must happen before a health crisis, not after.
What Long-Term Care Planning Does Not Cover
- Legal planning does not guarantee Medicaid approval eligibility is determined by DFCS based on medical and financial criteria
- Assets transferred within the five-year look-back period are subject to penalty
- Assisted living costs are not covered by Georgia Medicaid, regardless of legal planning
- IRAs and 401(k)s require separate planning and cannot go directly into a MAPT
Who This Is For
Long-term care planning is for people who are still healthy. The five-year look-back period means you must act before a diagnosis forces your hand. If you are over 60 and own a home or have significant savings, the window to protect those assets is open now.
What a Long-Term Care Plan Includes, How It Works, and What It Protects
A long-term care plan from The Hive Law is a coordinated set of legal documents. The core is a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust. Around it are the documents that handle your care decisions and your finances if you cannot manage them yourself.
The Medicaid Asset Protection Trust
The MAPT removes your home and savings from the assets Medicaid counts. Once the five-year look-back period passes, those assets are protected from the spend-down. You keep the income they produce. Your children inherit what is inside the trust when you die. The trust is the difference between leaving an inheritance and leaving nothing.
The Advance Healthcare Directive
This document tells your doctors what care you want if you cannot speak for yourself. It names a healthcare agent who can make decisions on your behalf. Without it, your family may face legal barriers to getting basic information about your condition. Every long-term care plan includes one.
The Financial Power of Attorney
A durable financial power of attorney lets your agent manage bills, banking, and financial decisions if you become incapacitated. Without it, your family may need to go through a guardianship proceeding to act on your behalf. That process can take months and cost more than the documents would have.
How to Get Started
The process starts with a Family Protection Audit at $500. Melissa reviews your assets, your family situation, and your health picture. You leave with a specific plan, not a general overview. The audit fee is credited toward your total if you move forward.
Long-term care plans at The Hive Law start at:
The Documents
- Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT)
- Pour-Over Will
- Quitclaim Deed
- Financial Power of Attorney
- Advance Healthcare Directive
- HIPAA Authorization
The Implementation
- Document Walk-Through Call
- Trust Funding Session
- Funding Checkup
The Included Services
- Successor Trustee Orientation
- Professional Coordination Call
- Surviving Spouse Transition Call
- Post-Signing Checklist
Most families complete the full process in two to three weeks. Everything is handled over the phone. Documents are stored in a secure client portal.
*The fact that you read this far tells us something about you. You take this seriously. So do we.*
Without a Plan
- Nursing home costs $7,500+ per month with no coverage plan
- Medicare stops paying after 100 days of skilled nursing
- Assets spent down to $2,000 before Medicaid covers nursing home
- Home subject to Georgia estate recovery after death
- Family inherits what remains after years of private pay
With Long-Term Care Planning
- Assets in the MAPT are not counted by Medicaid
- Healthcare directive ensures your wishes are followed
- No spend-down on assets protected before the look-back period
- Home shielded from estate recovery
- Family inherits what you protected
How It Works
Schedule Your Family Protection Audit
Book a 60-minute call with Melissa. She reviews your assets, your family situation, and where you are currently exposed.
Melissa Designs Your Plan
She builds your estate plan from scratch based on your specific assets and family. You get an exact quote before you commit to anything.
Review Every Document With Melissa
Before you sign, Melissa walks through every section of your trust with you in plain language. No legal jargon. No confusion about what you are signing.
We Fund and Finalize Everything
We retitle your property, verify every account is correctly aligned with your trust, and make sure your successor trustee knows exactly what to do when the time comes.
Melissa Breyer
Georgia Estate Planning Attorney
Melissa Breyer is a Georgia estate planning attorney who works exclusively on trust-based estate planning and LLC formation. She personally designs every plan at The Hive Law and handles every client consultation herself. Every plan is built from scratch for your specific family, your specific assets, and your specific wishes.
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What Our Clients Say
After my father passed away, my mother had to rely on me and my brother for everything. Dad never set up a trust. It took over a year to sort through probate, and during that time, Mom couldn't access most of their money without our help. I promised myself I would never put my wife in that position. This firm set us up with a trust package that does exactly that. My wife is fully protected. She can access every account, manage every asset, and make every decision on her own from day one. No court involvement. No asking anyone for help. My wife said it's the first time she's felt confident about what would happen if I wasn't here. That alone was worth it.
My biggest fear was that if I died first, my wife would be stuck trying to figure everything out alone. We have accounts at multiple banks, a brokerage account, life insurance, and a house. We got our trust package done with this firm and that fear is gone. Everything is structured so that if something happens to me, she steps right in. No court. No waiting. She will be financially stable and fully in control from day one. They also helped us set up power of attorney and healthcare directives. If you're in the Atlanta area, don't wait.
We had an outstanding experience working with Melissa Breyer to create our Living Trust. From start to finish, she was knowledgeable, professional, and incredibly easy to work with. She took the time to clearly explain every step of the process, answered all of our questions with patience, and made what could have been a complicated task feel straightforward and stress free. We are so grateful for her help and couldn't be happier with the outcome.
We highly recommend Hive Law. They were extremely patient and responsive, answering our many rounds of questions regarding trusts and estate planning. Shawn consistently responded the same day we sent our questions — even while his family was on vacation. Melissa was always available to discuss matters by phone whenever we needed additional clarification. Both are very knowledgeable in estate planning, and we would confidently recommend Hive Law to friends and family.
The Hive Law has been amazing throughout the process of setting up our trust. Every detail is considered and no stone is left unturned. They have been easy and enjoyable to work with. I would absolutely recommend them.
The Hive Law made the entire estate planning and trust process clear, organized, and easy to understand. They took the time to explain everything in detail whether by email or over the phone. Their team was professional, responsive, and truly cared about helping us protect our family and assets. Melissa and Shawn are very nice, patient, and easy to talk to. I highly recommend The Hive Law to anyone looking for knowledgeable and trustworthy estate planning services.
Frequently Asked Questions
Insurance and legal planning address different parts of the problem. Insurance pays the monthly bill if you have a policy and qualify for benefits. A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust protects what insurance does not cover. Many families use both. Others, particularly those who can no longer qualify for insurance due to age or health, rely on legal planning alone. During your Family Protection Audit, Melissa will review your situation and tell you which approach makes sense for you.
The MAPT is the core legal document in a long-term care plan, but a long-term care plan includes more. It adds the advance healthcare directive, the financial power of attorney, and a coordinated strategy for how the documents work together. If your main concern is protecting assets from Medicaid, the MAPT page describes that document specifically. If your concern is the full picture care decisions, finances, and asset protection together this is the right page.
It depends on your specific situation. If you have not yet applied for Medicaid and the five-year look-back period has not started, there may still be planning options available. Some strategies work even after a health crisis begins, though the options narrow significantly once Medicaid has been applied for. The best first step is a Family Protection Audit so Melissa can review what is still available to you.
Georgia Medicaid rules allow the community spouse (the healthy spouse who stays home) to keep a portion of the couple’s assets under the Community Spouse Resource Allowance. In 2026, that amount is approximately $148,620. Legal planning works to maximize what the community spouse can keep while still qualifying the nursing home spouse for Medicaid. A MAPT established before the look-back period can protect assets beyond what the CSRA allows.
Retirement accounts cannot go into a MAPT directly. Doing so triggers a taxable distribution. Your IRA and 401(k) are also treated differently by Medicaid. In Georgia, a retirement account in payout status may be exempt from Medicaid’s countable asset rules. This is one reason the audit matters. The rules for retirement accounts are different from the rules for savings and real estate, and the strategy depends on your specific account types and balances.
Assets held in the MAPT at the time of your death pass directly to the beneficiaries named in the trust. They do not go through probate. Georgia’s Medicaid Estate Recovery Program can only file claims against your probate estate. Assets in the trust are not part of your probate estate. Your beneficiaries receive them outside of the recovery process.
Ready to Protect Your Family?
Schedule your 60-minute Family Protection Audit with Melissa. $500, credited toward your estate plan.
Book Your Family Protection AuditNot Ready Yet?
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