Elder Law
Medicaid Asset Protection Trust in Georgia
A legal trust that removes your home and savings from Medicaid's countable assets before the spend-down begins.
Here Is What Medicaid Does to Assets in Your Name
Georgia Medicaid will not pay for a nursing home until your countable assets are at $2,000 or less. Your savings, investments, and some property all count. If you have $300,000 saved, Medicaid expects you to spend $298,000 of it before coverage begins. That is not a penalty. That is the rule. Most Georgia families who enter a nursing home without a plan spend through everything they have within two to three years.
What a MAPT Is
A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust is an irrevocable trust. You transfer ownership of your assets into it typically your home, sometimes savings and investments. The trust becomes the legal owner. Medicaid counts what you own. It cannot count what you do not own. That is the entire mechanism: move assets out of your name before Medicaid starts counting, and Medicaid cannot touch them.
The Trade-Off You Have to Make
A MAPT is permanent. You cannot change your mind. You cannot pull the principal back out. Your adult child serves as trustee and controls those assets. You give up that control on purpose, because control is exactly what makes assets countable to Medicaid. The choice is straightforward: give up control of your assets now and protect them for your family, or keep control and lose them to the spend-down. There is no version where you keep both full control and full protection.
Georgia’s Estate Recovery Program
Many families assume the home is safe after a loved one passes. In Georgia, that assumption is often wrong. Georgia runs an expanded Medicaid Estate Recovery Program (MERP). When a Medicaid recipient dies, the state can recover what it paid for their care from the estate. In Georgia, MERP reaches not just probate assets but also revocable living trusts Georgia treats a revocable trust as still belonging to you. A MAPT defeats MERP because at your death, the trust owns the assets. You do not. The state cannot recover assets you did not own.
The Five-Year Look-Back Rule
Medicaid reviews five years of financial history before approving long-term care coverage. Any transfer made within that 60-month period triggers a penalty. Georgia calculates the penalty by dividing the transferred amount by $10,965 per month. A $109,650 transfer made three years before applying creates a 10-month penalty period during which Medicaid pays nothing and you pay out of pocket. The penalty does not start at the time of the transfer. It starts when you apply and are otherwise eligible. Families who fund a MAPT five or more years before needing care avoid this entirely. Families who wait do not have the same options.
What a MAPT Does Not Cover
- Assisted living is not covered by Georgia Medicaid. Georgia Medicaid pays for nursing home care only. If you end up in an assisted living facility, your MAPT principal is locked and Medicaid covers nothing. This is the most overlooked limitation of a MAPT.
- Retirement accounts do not belong in a MAPT. IRAs and 401(k)s have their own Medicaid rules and require separate planning. Transferring them into a trust creates a taxable event with no Medicaid benefit.
- A MAPT does not protect assets transferred within five years of a Medicaid application. The look-back applies regardless of intent.
- A MAPT is not a complete estate plan. It addresses one specific exposure and works alongside wills, powers of attorney, and healthcare directives not instead of them.
Who This Is Right For
A MAPT makes sense if you are currently healthy, own a home or have savings above $2,000, do not expect to need nursing home care in the next five years, and have an adult child or other trusted person available to serve as trustee. The earlier you act, the more the trust can protect. If you are in your late 50s or 60s and in reasonable health, you likely have the five-year runway this strategy requires.
What a MAPT Does, How It Works, and What You Keep
Once your assets are transferred into a MAPT, the trust is the legal owner. Medicaid cannot count them. When you die, those assets pass directly to your named beneficiaries without probate and without MERP reaching them. The trust protects the assets during your life and delivers them to your family after you are gone.
What You Can Still Do
You can still live in your home after transferring it to the MAPT. The trust document gives you a contractual right of occupancy for your lifetime. You can receive income generated by trust assets interest, dividends, and rental income. What you cannot do is access the principal. The income stays yours. The principal stays in the trust, out of Medicaid’s reach, and goes to your family when you pass.
Who Controls the Trust
You cannot serve as your own trustee. Your spouse cannot serve as trustee either. Georgia Medicaid rules require the trustee to be someone other than the grantor or their spouse. An adult child is the most common choice. The trustee has legal responsibility for managing the assets, keeping records, and making distributions according to the trust terms. They cannot give you the principal, and they cannot take it for themselves. If they do either, the trust fails and Medicaid counts the assets. Choosing a trustee who understands the responsibility is not a formality it is part of the plan working.
What Happens to the Assets When You Die
Trust assets do not go through probate. The trustee distributes them directly to your named beneficiaries according to the trust terms. Because you held no legal interest in the trust principal at death, Georgia’s MERP cannot claim them. Your family inherits what you put in, minus any income you drew during your lifetime. That is the outcome a MAPT is built for: Medicaid gets paid for your care, and your family still inherits something.
How to Get Started
The first step is a Family Protection Audit a 60-minute meeting with Melissa to review your assets, your timeline, and whether a MAPT is the right fit for your situation. The cost is $500, credited in full toward your plan if you move forward. If a MAPT is the right structure, most engagements 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
You leave the audit knowing exactly what Medicaid can reach, what it cannot, and what needs to happen before the five-year period runs.
The fact that you read this far tells us something about you. You take this seriously. So do we.
Assets in Your Name
- Medicaid counts all assets above $2,000
- Savings spent down before coverage begins
- Home equity subject to Georgia MERP after death
- Revocable trust offers no MERP protection in Georgia
- Family inherits what remains after the spend-down
Assets in a MAPT
- MAPT assets are not counted by Medicaid
- No spend-down required on protected assets
- MERP cannot reach trust assets at death
- Assets pass to heirs without probate
- 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
Yes. The trust document includes a lifetime right of occupancy. You continue to live in the home, pay property taxes, and maintain the property. If the home is ever sold, the proceeds stay inside the trust and must be reinvested according to the trust terms. You do not receive those sale proceeds as a personal distribution.
You cannot access the principal once it is in the trust. A MAPT is irrevocable by design. That irrevocability is what removes the assets from Medicaid’s countable resources. Any mechanism allowing you to access the principal would cause Medicaid to count the entire trust as a resource and deny coverage. Before funding a MAPT, it is important to retain enough outside the trust to cover living expenses and any foreseeable emergencies.
Yes. An adult child is the most common trustee choice. You cannot serve as your own trustee, and your spouse cannot serve as trustee either. The trustee holds legal responsibility for managing the assets, keeping records, and following the trust terms. They need to be someone who understands the rules, will keep good documentation, and can provide records to Georgia DFCS if a Medicaid application is ever filed.
No. Medicaid reviews five years of financial history before approving long-term care coverage. Any transfer into a MAPT within that 60-month period creates a penalty period during which Medicaid pays nothing. The MAPT is designed for planning that happens well before care is needed. For situations where care may be needed sooner, other Medicaid planning strategies may still apply.
A revocable trust can be changed or cancelled by you at any time. Because you retain that control, Georgia Medicaid and Georgia’s Medicaid Estate Recovery Program both treat revocable trust assets as still belonging to you. A revocable trust avoids probate but does not protect against the spend-down or against MERP. A MAPT is irrevocable and transfers legal ownership to the trust, which is why Medicaid and MERP cannot reach those assets.
No. Retirement accounts should not be transferred into a MAPT. Making that transfer would treat the funds as a taxable distribution creating a potentially large tax bill with no Medicaid planning benefit. Retirement accounts that are in payout status are generally exempt from Medicaid’s countable asset calculation in Georgia. Your retirement accounts require separate analysis as part of a broader Medicaid planning conversation.
Ready to Protect Your Family?
Schedule your 60-minute Family Protection Audit with Melissa. $500, credited toward your estate plan.
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