Qualifying for Medicaid to pay for nursing home care does not mean your home is safe forever. Georgia participates in Medicaid Estate Recovery — a program that allows the state to claim reimbursement from your estate after you die for what Medicaid paid during your lifetime.
For most Georgia families, the home is the primary asset at risk. Here is how estate recovery works and what you can do to protect your house.
What Is Medicaid Estate Recovery?
Federal law requires states to attempt to recover Medicaid costs from the estates of deceased Medicaid recipients who were 55 or older when they received benefits. Georgia complies with this requirement.
After you die, the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) may file a claim against your estate for the total amount Medicaid paid for your nursing home care. If your home passes through your estate — through a will, intestate succession, or a revocable trust — the state can place a lien on it or require its sale to satisfy the claim.
When Is Recovery Delayed or Reduced?
Georgia will delay pursuing recovery while:
- A surviving spouse is alive
- A child under 21 is living in the home
- A blind or permanently disabled child is living in the home
After these conditions end, recovery can proceed. This means that even if your surviving spouse lives in the home for years, the state can still make a claim after they pass.
Recovery may also be waived in cases of undue hardship, but this is narrow and requires formal application.
How Medicaid Estate Recovery Affects Your Home
Your home was exempt from Medicaid’s asset count during your lifetime — meaning it did not prevent you from qualifying. But that exemption ends at death. The home then becomes subject to estate recovery unless it was properly protected beforehand.
Example: A Georgia woman qualifies for Medicaid at 78. Medicaid pays $9,000/month for three years — a total of $324,000. She dies and leaves her home (worth $280,000) to her daughter in her will. Georgia DCH files an estate recovery claim for $280,000. The daughter either pays the claim or loses the house.
How to Protect Your Home
Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT)
The most effective way to protect your home from Medicaid estate recovery is to transfer it into a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust at least five years before you apply for Medicaid. Assets in a properly structured MAPT pass to your beneficiaries outside of your estate — meaning they are not subject to estate recovery claims.
Lady Bird Deed (Enhanced Life Estate Deed)
A Lady Bird deed (also called an enhanced life estate deed) allows you to transfer your home to your children at death without going through probate — and in Georgia, without triggering a Medicaid estate recovery claim. This is because the home does not technically pass through your estate.
However, a Lady Bird deed does not protect the home during your lifetime for Medicaid asset purposes if it was not structured correctly and far enough in advance.
Beneficiary Deed
Georgia’s Transfer on Death deed lets you name a beneficiary who receives your home automatically at death without probate. Like the Lady Bird deed, property transferred by a beneficiary deed may avoid estate recovery in Georgia because it passes outside the estate. However, this area of law has nuances and should be confirmed with an elder law attorney familiar with Georgia’s current enforcement practices.
The Window to Plan Is Before You Need Care
All of these strategies require advance planning. A MAPT must be in place five years before you apply for Medicaid. Deeds should be recorded well before any health crisis.
If you want to protect your home and pass it to your family — not the state — the time to act is now. The Hive Law helps Georgia families set up Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts and estate plans designed to withstand estate recovery. Start with a Family Protection Audit to understand your options.