Medicaid Asset Protection Trust Attorney in Atlanta, Georgia
Protect Your Assets From Nursing Home Spend-Down — Five Years Before You Need To
A Medicaid asset protection trust removes assets from your countable estate once the five-year lookback period passes. The assets you fund today are the assets Medicaid cannot count in five years.
Find Out Where You Stand
The Five-Year Lookback and Why Timing Is Everything
Georgia Medicaid examines every financial transaction in the 60 months before a long-term care application. The lookback clock starts the day you fund the trust — not the day you apply for Medicaid. The earlier you act, the more the trust can protect.
How Georgia Medicaid Spend-Down Works
Georgia Medicaid long-term care benefits require an individual to spend down to $2,000 in countable assets before coverage begins. A married couple can protect up to $154,140 for the community spouse in 2025. Everything above those limits must be spent on care before Medicaid pays anything.
Countable assets include bank accounts, investment accounts, retirement accounts, and non-exempt real estate. The primary residence is exempt while the applicant or community spouse lives in it — but it becomes countable and subject to Medicaid estate recovery after both spouses have died. At $8,000 to $10,000 per month in nursing home costs, a family with $400,000 in savings can exhaust everything above the protected minimum within months of admission.
How a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust Works
A Medicaid asset protection trust (MAPT) is an irrevocable trust specifically designed to remove assets from your countable estate for Medicaid purposes. You transfer assets into the trust and name a trustee — typically an adult child or trusted person. You designate beneficiaries who inherit the assets at your death. You give up control of the principal. That loss of control is what creates the protection — because you no longer own and control the assets, Medicaid cannot count them after the five-year lookback period passes. You may retain the income the trust assets generate during your lifetime.
Once five years have passed from the funding date, those assets are fully protected from spend-down regardless of what happens to your health or finances. We prepare the trust document, fund it with deeds and account transfers, and coordinate the filing date to start the lookback clock as early as possible.
Revocable Trust vs. Medicaid Asset Protection Trust
Same legal family. Different jobs. Here's how to tell which one your situation needs.
Revocable Trust
$3,500
For most Georgia families — avoids probate, keeps you in control.
Medicaid Asset Protection Trust
$6,500
For families preparing for nursing home or Medicaid planning.
| Feature | Revocable Trust | MAPT |
|---|---|---|
| Price at Atlanta Estate Planning | $3,500 | $6,500 |
| Avoids probate | Yes | Yes |
| You can change or cancel it | Yes | No — it’s irrevocable |
| You keep control of assets | Full control | Trustee controls |
| Protects assets from nursing home | No | Yes — after 5-year lookback |
| Protects from Medicaid spend-down | No | Yes |
| Daily access to assets | Unrestricted | Through trustee |
| Timing to be effective | Immediately | Set up 5+ years before need |
| Best for | Most Georgia families | Long-term care planning |
Without a Trust
- Countable assets above $2,000 must be spent on care before Medicaid begins
- The home becomes subject to Medicaid estate recovery after your death
- Transfers made in the five years before application create penalty periods
- No protection for assets that remain in your name at time of application
With a Trust
- Assets funded into the MAPT are removed from your countable estate
- After five years, those assets are fully protected from spend-down
- The home transferred into the trust passes to beneficiaries outside Medicaid recovery
- Income from trust assets can still be received during your lifetime
How It Works
Schedule Your Free Call
Book your 15-minute free strategy call with Shawn. No cost, no commitment.
Meet With Melissa
Melissa reviews your assets, your family situation, and your exposure. Virtual or in-person.
Get Your Plan
Receive a written plan with clear recommendations for protecting your family and your assets.
Move Forward
No pressure, no commitment required. Move forward when you are ready.
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.
118+ Five-Star Google Reviews
What Our Clients Say
The whole process of creating a family trust felt simple, clear, and stress-free. We really appreciated how patient, helpful, and easy to communicate with the team was throughout everything. Shawn and Melissa gave us great guidance and helped us feel confident every step of the way. We're grateful for their support and would definitely recommend them.
After my father passed away, my mother had to rely on my father's employer to navigate the estate. It was a disaster. After this experience, I knew I needed a plan. I turned to Atlanta Estate Planning Attorneys to set up a trust. I no longer have to worry about my wife and children going through a difficult process if something happens to me. I highly recommend Atlanta Estate Planning Attorneys!
My biggest fear was that if I died first, my wife would have no idea how to navigate the estate and legal system. I reached out to Atlanta Estate Planning Attorneys and they put my mind at ease immediately. Their process is easy to follow and they took care of everything. Atlanta Estate Planning Attorneys is the best decision I've made for my family's future.
Working with Melissa Breyer to set up our Living Trust was one of the best decisions Scott and I have made. We did this so our boys are protected from confusion and chaos if something happens to us. Melissa was knowledgeable, patient, and made what felt overwhelming completely manageable. I would absolutely recommend Melissa Breyer.
Working with Shawn and Melissa at Atlanta Estate Planning Attorneys has been an excellent experience. They asked great questions during our initial call and clearly explained what we needed. We feel confident we're in good hands and would highly recommend them.
Frequently Asked Questions
A Medicaid asset protection trust (MAPT) is an irrevocable trust designed to remove assets from your countable estate for Georgia Medicaid long-term care eligibility purposes. You transfer assets into the trust, give up control of the principal, and name a trustee to manage them. You may retain the income the trust assets generate. The beneficiaries you name receive the assets at your death. Once five years have passed from the date you funded the trust, those assets are no longer counted toward the Medicaid asset limit. This is the primary legal tool for protecting savings, investment accounts, and real estate from nursing home spend-down in Georgia.
Georgia Medicaid examines every financial transfer you made in the 60 months before your application. If you transferred assets into a MAPT within that window, Medicaid calculates a penalty period — a number of months during which Medicaid will not pay for care, calculated by dividing the transfer amount by the average monthly nursing home cost in Georgia (approximately $8,100 in 2025). The lookback does not prevent you from qualifying eventually — it delays when benefits begin. Assets transferred more than five years before application are fully protected. Funding the trust as early as possible is the most important timing decision in Medicaid planning.
Yes. A MAPT is commonly used to protect the family home while you continue living in it. The trust can include a retained life estate — a legal provision allowing you to continue using and occupying the property as your primary residence for the rest of your life. The property is transferred into the trust name, so Medicaid cannot count it after the lookback period. It also removes the home from your probate estate, so it passes directly to beneficiaries at your death without going through court. Medicaid estate recovery, which allows the state to seek reimbursement from a deceased recipient’s probate estate, generally does not reach assets held in an irrevocable trust.
When you die, the assets in the MAPT pass to the beneficiaries you named in the trust — typically your children or other heirs. The distribution does not go through probate. The trustee distributes the assets according to the trust terms. Because the assets were in an irrevocable trust rather than your personal estate, they are generally not subject to Georgia Medicaid estate recovery. The state’s estate recovery program targets probate assets — assets held in a MAPT at the time of death are outside that reach. This is one of the key benefits of the MAPT structure beyond spend-down protection during your lifetime.
A MAPT is a type of irrevocable trust, but it is drafted specifically for Medicaid planning and includes provisions a general irrevocable trust may not have. A general irrevocable trust might be used for estate tax planning or creditor protection — each with different structural requirements. A MAPT is specifically designed to satisfy Medicaid’s lookback rules, preserve your ability to receive income from trust assets, and protect the home through a retained life estate. If Medicaid planning is your goal, the trust document needs to be drafted with that purpose in mind — a general irrevocable trust may not satisfy Medicaid’s specific eligibility rules.
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.
- No jargon. We explain everything in plain language.
- A clear next step. You will know exactly what to do when the call ends.