Medicaid Irrevocable Trust
$1,589 Flat Fee - 5 to 7 Business Days
Protect assets for your family while planning for long-term care. Attorney-counseled, attorney-drafted, and built to satisfy the federal no-benefit test - because a trust with a drafting gap protects nothing.
Get StartedWhat You Get
Long-term nursing home care in Florida can consume a lifetime of savings in a few years. A properly drafted Medicaid Irrevocable Trust, funded well ahead of need, removes assets from your countable estate so they pass to your children or other beneficiaries instead of being spent down. This is a serious, irrevocable decision - which is why this engagement is built around attorney counseling first, drafting second.
Every trust is drafted with you - the Medicaid applicant - as the actual Settlor, with trustees you select, and with no provision that could let income or principal flow back to you under any circumstances. Those are not stylistic choices; each one is a requirement federal and Florida Medicaid rules impose on a trust that actually works.
- Attorney-led intake and counseling with the Settlor (or the Settlor's authorized agent) - strategy selection is legal judgment performed by the attorney, not a form
- Irrevocable Medicaid asset-protection trust naming you as Settlor, drafted to pass the "any circumstances" no-benefit-to-Settlor test under 42 U.S.C. §1396p(d)(3)(B)
- Homestead article addressing Article X, §4 of the Florida Constitution, Fla. Stat. §196.031/§196.041 exemption continuation, and Fla. Stat. §409.9101 estate-recovery analysis
- Successor trustee provisions naming fiduciaries you select (the firm does not name referral sources or document preparers as trustees)
- Grantor-trust tax structuring with EIN/SSN and Form 1041 guidance
- Transfer-penalty counseling under 42 U.S.C. §1396p(c) for the funding transfer itself and any prior look-back transfers disclosed at intake
- Coordination with the Deed Package Addendum service if real property will be conveyed into the trust
How It Works
Complete the Questionnaire
Full asset schedule, 60-month transfer history, homestead details, trustee and beneficiary selections, and your goals in your own words.
Pay Flat Fee
Submit payment online for the $1,589 fee. Funds held in trust until your work is delivered.
Attorney Counseling and Drafting
An attorney personally reviews your answers, counsels you on the irrevocable decision and its Medicaid consequences, and drafts the trust.
Receive Your Trust Package
Trust instrument, funding memorandum, and written transfer-penalty summary delivered in 5 to 7 business days.
What's Included
Deliverables
- Medicaid Irrevocable Trust instrument (PDF and Word)
- Funding and administration memorandum for the Trustee
- Written transfer-penalty counseling summary
Not Included
- Deeding real property into the trust (see the Deed Package Addendum, sold separately)
- Qualified Income Trust / Miller Trust (separate service; needed if gross income exceeds the Florida income cap)
- Filing the Medicaid application itself
- Tax return preparation
Related Services
Deeding your home into the trust? Add the Deed Package Addendum. Income over the Medicaid cap? See the Qualified Income Trust. Paying a family caregiver? See the Personal Services Contract. Browse the full catalog at Elder Law Services.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a Medicaid Irrevocable Trust do?
It removes assets from your countable estate for Medicaid eligibility purposes while preserving them for your chosen beneficiaries. Once the 60-month look-back period passes after funding, assets properly held in the trust are generally not counted against Medicaid's asset limits. The trade-off is real: the trust is irrevocable, and you cannot be a beneficiary of the assets you transfer in.
Why does the trust have to be irrevocable, and why can't I benefit from it?
Federal law applies an "any circumstances" test under 42 U.S.C. §1396p(d)(3)(B): if there is any circumstance under which trust income or principal could be paid to you or for your benefit, that portion counts as your asset for Medicaid purposes. A trust that leaves you a path back to the money fails the test entirely. The trust is drafted so that no drafting gap lets income or principal flow back to you - which is exactly why attorney counseling comes before drafting.
Does funding the trust start the Medicaid look-back?
Yes. Transferring assets into the trust is a completed transfer under 42 U.S.C. §1396p(c) and starts (or falls within) the 60-month look-back. Timing is a core part of the counseling in this engagement: the strategy works best when it is done well before care is needed. If nursing home care is anticipated soon, the attorney will discuss whether other tools - a Personal Services Contract, Qualified Income Trust, or Lady Bird Deed - fit your timeline better.
What happens to my homestead?
The homestead needs its own analysis - Florida's constitutional homestead protections (Article X, §4), the ad valorem exemption statutes (§196.031/§196.041), and Medicaid estate recovery under Fla. Stat. §409.9101 all interact with a trust conveyance differently than they do with a Lady Bird Deed. The questionnaire collects your homestead details and the trust's homestead article is drafted from that analysis. If the home will be deeded into the trust, the Deed Package Addendum handles the conveyance with written transfer-penalty counseling.
Who should serve as trustee?
A trustee you choose and trust - typically an adult child or other family member - and never the person who referred you or prepared your documents. You cannot serve as your own trustee of this trust. The questionnaire asks for your proposed trustee and at least one successor.
Ready to Protect Your Assets?
$1,589 flat fee. 5 to 7 business days. Pay online - funds held in trust until delivery.
Get StartedHave questions or a complex situation? Contact us for guidance.
Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Florida law governs all engagements.