Medicaid Planning
A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust costs $6,500 as a flat fee in Georgia. That covers drafting the trust, transferring your home and other assets into it, and helping you fund it correctly the first time.
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A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT) costs $6,500 as a flat fee at Atlanta Estate Planning. That fee covers drafting the trust, deeding your home and other assets into it, and funding it correctly from the start.
Other Georgia firms often quote $2,000 to $12,000, because they charge separately for drafting, deed transfers, and follow-up funding work. A flat fee means you know the full cost before you start.
For the full picture of how this fits into your plan, see our guide to Medicaid planning in Georgia.
The $6,500 flat fee covers three things: drafting the Medicaid Asset Protection Trust document, deeding your home and other assets into it, and funding it correctly the first time.
Some firms charge $6,000 to $9,000 just to draft the trust. Then they bill separately for the deed work and funding. That can push the real cost past $10,000. At Atlanta Estate Planning, the flat fee includes all three from the start.
A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust only works if it is funded correctly. If your home or savings stay titled in your name instead of the trust’s name, those assets are still countable for Medicaid even after the trust is signed. The flat fee includes the funding step so this does not get missed.
A semi-private room in a Georgia nursing home costs about $105,850 a year. A private room runs about $113,150 a year. Most families cannot pay that out of pocket for more than a year or two.
The $6,500 trust cost is a one-time fee. Compare that to even a single year of private-pay nursing home care, and the trust can pay for itself many times over if it helps your family qualify for Medicaid instead of draining savings.
Medicaid only pays for care once you qualify. In Georgia, that means your countable assets have to drop to $2,000 or less. After five years, Medicaid generally does not count the principal of a properly funded Medicaid Asset Protection Trust. Any income the trust pays you still counts as your income.
Medicaid looks back 60 months (5 years) from the date you apply. That is a federal rule that Georgia applies. Under 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(c), any assets you transferred during that window, including into a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust, can trigger a penalty period. During that penalty period, Medicaid will not pay for your care.
Georgia divides the value of what you transferred by its average private-pay nursing home rate ($11,122 a month as of April 2026). That gives the number of months Medicaid will not pay. The five years run from the day each asset goes into the trust, not from the day you sign it. You do not get credit for part of the five years.
This is why the timing matters as much as the price. Assets that went into the trust more than 5 years before you apply cause no transfer penalty. Assets that went in 2 years before you apply count in full, which can mean months when Medicaid will not pay.
If a nursing home stay is likely within the next 5 years, or already happening, a new Medicaid Asset Protection Trust will not avoid the look-back penalty for assets moved into it now. Setting one up at this point can create the exact problem it is meant to prevent.
You still have options. A Qualified Income Trust, also called a Miller Trust, can help if your income is too high to qualify. Spending down assets on exempt purchases, like home repairs or a prepaid funeral, can also lower your countable assets without triggering a transfer penalty. Our long-term care planning guide and incapacity planning guide cover the documents that usually need to work alongside this decision.
This is a case where getting advice before you act matters more than the dollar cost of any one option. A short consultation can tell you which path avoids a penalty and which one does not.
Here is how a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust compares to the other ways to qualify for Medicaid in Georgia.
| Option | Setup Cost | Look-Back Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Medicaid Asset Protection Trust | $6,500 flat fee | Avoided only if funded more than 5 years before you apply |
| Spend-down | No trust cost, but assets are spent, not preserved | None. Spending your own money is not a transfer |
| Qualified Income Trust (Miller Trust) | Typically $500 to $1,500 | None. It redirects income, it does not shelter assets |
| Doing nothing | $0 upfront | Full spend-down to $2,000 before Medicaid pays |
A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust is the only option on this list that is built to pass assets on to your family, and it needs more than five years of lead time. The other options work with less lead time, but none of them are built to pass assets on the way a funded trust is. No trust is a guarantee.
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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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Putting your home in an irrevocable Medicaid Asset Protection Trust can protect it from the Georgia Medicaid spend-down if the trust owns the home more than 5 years (60 months) before you apply. The trust has to own the home, not just name it as a beneficiary. A revocable living trust does not protect your home from nursing home costs or from Medicaid. Against estate recovery after death, a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust gives stronger protection than a revocable trust, but it is not a guarantee.
The Medicaid look-back period is the 60-month (5-year) window Medicaid checks when you apply in Georgia. It is a federal rule. Gifts and transfers you made in that time, including into a trust, can create a penalty period when Medicaid will not pay for your care.
No Medicaid rule says who has to be the trustee. What Medicaid looks at is whether the trust could ever pay the principal back to you. If it could, Medicaid counts that money as yours, no matter who runs the trust. Most families still choose an adult child or another trusted person as trustee, so it stays clear that you do not control the principal.
A revocable living trust can be changed or canceled at any time, so Medicaid still counts its assets as yours. A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust is irrevocable, which is what makes the Medicaid protection possible.
A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust gives stronger protection against Georgia Medicaid estate recovery than a revocable trust, but it is not a guarantee. Because the trust, not you, owns the assets at your death, they are generally outside what Georgia can claim. The reason is ownership, not probate: federal law lets a state claim only assets you still had a legal title or interest in when you died. But Georgia’s rules do mention trusts, any income or right to live in the home that you keep may still count, and no Georgia court has settled the question.
If you need Medicaid before five years have passed, the assets you moved into the trust count in full toward a penalty period. The trust does not undo the look-back. You do not get credit for part of the five years.
That depends on your other goals for the trust, since it also avoids probate on the assets inside it. But if nursing home care is your main concern, the trust only pays off if you actually end up needing Medicaid.
A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust shelters assets like a home or savings. A Qualified Income Trust only redirects monthly income that is too high to qualify for Medicaid, it does not protect assets at all.
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.