Medicaid Asset Protection
Don’t let a nursing home take everything you built.
Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT) templates plus a 5-year look-back planning checklist. Built for the family home, savings, and family farm. From $79.
The problem with waiting
The average semi-private nursing home room costs $104,000 per year. Medicare does not cover it. Long-term care insurance is increasingly unaffordable. That leaves Medicaid — which requires you to spend down nearly all your assets first.
Medicaid uses a 5-year look-back window. Any transfer of assets in the 60 months before applying triggers a penalty period of disqualification. You cannot just give the house to your kids when mom is already in the nursing home.
The earlier you plan, the more you can save. A MAPT funded today sails through the look-back five years from now.
What is a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust?
A MAPT is an irrevocable trust funded with assets you want to preserve — typically the family home and a portion of liquid savings. Once five years pass after funding, those assets are no longer counted as yours for Medicaid eligibility.
Critically, you can retain the right to live in the home for life, and the trust can be drafted so children or other beneficiaries inherit the property with a step-up in basis at your death — a tax outcome a simple deed transfer does not achieve.
A MAPT is one of the few estate planning tools that requires specific, drafted-by-an-attorney provisions. Get it wrong and the trust counts as your asset. Our template package includes those provisions and an attorney review option.
What’s included
MAPT Template
Irrevocable trust with retained life estate, limited power of appointment, and grantor-trust tax provisions.
Look-Back Planning Worksheet
Map your 5-year window, identify exempt transfers, and build a defensible paper trail.
Homestead Exemption Guide
State-by-state rules for the home as an exempt asset under Medicaid — including the few states where it isn't.
Spousal Refusal Worksheet
How the well spouse keeps assets when only one spouse needs care.
Caregiver Agreement Template
Pay an adult child for care without triggering a transfer penalty.
Funding Instructions
Step-by-step retitling for real estate, brokerage accounts, and bank accounts into the MAPT.
Who this is for
- Adults age 55-70 in good health, planning ahead for long-term care.
- Families helping aging parents preserve the family home.
- Married couples where one spouse may need care soon (community spouse planning).
- Anyone whose primary asset is their home and who wants to leave it to their children.
- Anyone whose long-term care insurance has been cancelled or priced out.
We are not a law firm. Medicaid rules vary by state and change frequently. Our templates include state-specific notes, and attorney review is available for $249 flat.