Elder Law in Georgia
Medicaid Planning and Long-Term Care for Atlanta Families
Georgia Medicaid pays for nursing home care, but only after you spend down to $2,000 in countable assets. For a married couple, the spouse at home can keep up to $162,660 in 2026. Planning for the rest works best when it starts more than five years before you apply.
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The Five-Year Lookback and What It Means for Your Family
A Georgia nursing home costs a 2025 median of about $8,821 to $9,429 a month. A three-year stay at those rates costs about $317,550 to $339,450. When you ask Medicaid to pay for that care, Medicaid looks back five years at what you gave away or moved into a trust. Assets you moved less than five years before you apply count in full toward a penalty. The Medicaid asset protection trust is the main tool for families who plan more than five years ahead.
The Georgia Medicaid Numbers Every Family Needs to Know
Georgia Medicaid will pay for nursing home care, but only after your countable assets fall to $2,000 or below. For a married couple, the spouse who stays at home can keep up to $162,660 in countable assets (2026 figure, adjusted each year). The income limit for one applicant is $2,982 a month in 2026. Someone with more income can still qualify by using a Qualified Income Trust.
Many Atlanta families have more than $162,660 in combined savings, investment accounts, and retirement funds. Without planning, those assets are spent on care at nursing home rates before Medicaid steps in. Planning for those assets works best when it is finished more than five years before the Medicaid application date. That is the federal five-year lookback period.
The lookback is not a grace period. It is a review. Medicaid looks at what you gave away or sold for less than fair market value in the 60 months before you apply. The full value of those transfers counts toward a penalty period. That is a number of months during which Medicaid will not pay the nursing home.
What the Five-Year Lookback Actually Covers
Gifts to children, gifts to grandchildren, adding a family member to a deed, and moving assets into an irrevocable trust can all count if they were done less than five years before a Medicaid application. The penalty math is simple. Georgia divides the total value you gave away by its average private-pay nursing home rate ($11,122 a month as of April 2026). The answer is the number of months Medicaid will not pay.
A family that gives $200,000 to adult children two years before needing care faces a penalty of about 18 months. During that time, Medicaid will not pay the nursing home.
The Medicaid asset protection trust (MAPT) is an irrevocable trust built for this planning. After five years, Medicaid generally does not count the trust’s principal when it decides if you qualify. Any income the trust pays you still counts as your income. Your children or other beneficiaries receive what is left at your death. No trust is a guarantee.
What Elder Law Covers Beyond Medicaid
Medicaid planning is the most urgent piece for families approaching retirement age — but elder law is broader. It also covers the authority documents your family needs to act on your behalf while you are alive: the durable financial power of attorney that lets a trusted person pay your bills, manage your accounts, and file your taxes without going to court, and the advance healthcare directive that tells medical providers what you want and names someone to speak for you when you cannot.
Without those documents in place, a family managing a parent’s incapacity must petition the probate court for guardianship and conservatorship. That process costs $3,000 to $8,000 in legal fees, takes three to six months, and places the court — not the family — in a supervisory role over every significant financial decision going forward.
We address all of it in a single planning process: Medicaid qualification strategy, asset protection structure, and the authority documents your family needs to act without court involvement at every stage.
Asset Protection
A Medicaid asset protection trust is an irrevocable trust for nursing home planning. After five years, Medicaid generally does not count the trust's principal when it decides if you qualify. It is the main tool families use to plan ahead for nursing home costs.
Care Planning
Medicaid planning determines your eligibility strategy. Long-term care planning addresses the full picture — care options, facility selection, family coordination, and cost management before and during a care transition.
Authority Documents
A durable financial power of attorney and advance healthcare directive give your family legal authority to manage your finances and healthcare without going to court. Incapacity planning addresses the full scope of authority your family needs.
Planning For Your Specific Situation
If you own rental properties or a business, your situation has layers a standard estate plan does not address.
How It Works
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Melissa Breyer
Georgia Estate Planning Attorney
Melissa Breyer is a Georgia-licensed estate planning attorney focused exclusively on trust-based planning for individuals and families. She personally meets with every client and designs every plan from scratch. No templates. No associates handling your case. Every plan is built for your specific family, your specific assets, and your specific wishes.
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Frequently Asked Questions
An individual applying for Georgia Medicaid long-term care benefits must have $2,000 or less in countable assets. A married couple follows different rules: the spouse remaining at home may keep up to $162,660 in countable assets in 2026, a figure adjusted annually by the federal government. Countable assets include bank accounts, investment accounts, and non-exempt real estate. Exempt assets include the primary residence up to a certain equity limit, one vehicle, personal property, and irrevocable burial plans.
The Medicaid five-year lookback is a review of the 60 months before you ask Medicaid to pay for long-term care. It is a federal rule that Georgia applies. Any asset you gave away or sold for less than fair market value in that time counts in full toward a penalty. The penalty is a number of months during which Medicaid will not pay the nursing home. Georgia finds it by dividing the amount by its average private-pay nursing home rate ($11,122 a month as of April 2026). The lookback does not stop you from applying. Assets you moved more than five years before you apply are outside the lookback, so that move causes no penalty.
A Medicaid asset protection trust (MAPT) is an irrevocable trust built for nursing home planning. You transfer assets into the trust, name a trustee — typically an adult child or other trusted person — and designate beneficiaries who will inherit at your death. You may receive income generated by the trust during your lifetime, but you cannot take principal back. After five years, Medicaid generally does not count the trust’s principal when it decides if you qualify. Any income the trust pays you still counts as your income. No trust is a guarantee.
Yes. Georgia Medicaid offers several waiver programs that cover home- and community-based services as an alternative to nursing home placement. The SOURCE program provides in-home aide services, nursing visits, and care coordination for adults who meet functional and financial eligibility criteria. The Community Care Services Program covers similar services. These programs have enrollment caps and waiting lists. Eligibility requires meeting the same financial criteria as nursing home Medicaid — including the $2,000 asset limit — and a functional assessment confirming the level of care needed.
When one spouse enters a nursing home and applies for Medicaid, Georgia protects a portion of the couple’s joint assets for the spouse remaining at home — called the community spouse resource allowance (CSRA). In 2026, Georgia lets the spouse at home keep up to $162,660 in countable assets. Assets above that amount must be spent down or planned for before the spouse in the nursing home can qualify for benefits.
Find Out Where You Stand
Whatever brought you here today, the real question underneath it is simple: is your family protected if something happens to you? Without a plan, the people you love could face months in probate court, a fight over what you meant, or bills nobody has the authority to pay.
A clear plan closes every one of those gaps in writing, while you are still here to make the decisions. In one free 15-minute call, you will find out exactly what you have, what is missing, and what it takes to fix it.
- No pressure. This is a conversation, not a sales pitch.
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- A clear next step. You will know exactly what to do when the call ends.