[ Elder Law · Medicaid Planning ]
Qualify, without
losing the home.
[ The Program ]
TennCare CHOICES, in plain language.
TennCare CHOICES is Tennessee's Medicaid program for long-term care. It pays for nursing facility care and certain home and community based services for residents who meet the income, asset, and clinical eligibility criteria.
Medicaid planning is the lawful work of arranging a family's affairs so that a member who needs long-term care can qualify for the program without sacrificing the home, the community spouse's standard of living, or the inheritance the family has spent decades preparing.
[ Eligibility ]
Income, assets, and the spouse.
Income.
TennCare CHOICES has income limits that are adjusted annually. For an applicant whose income exceeds the limit, a Qualified Income Trust, sometimes called a Miller trust, can preserve eligibility.
Assets.
Countable assets must fall under a low individual limit. Exempt assets, including the primary home up to a value cap, one vehicle, household goods, and prepaid burial arrangements, do not count toward the limit.
The community spouse.
When one spouse needs care and the other does not, federal spousal impoverishment rules permit the community spouse to retain a share of the couple's resources, the Community Spouse Resource Allowance, plus a minimum monthly maintenance income.
[ Pre-planning ]
The five-year window.
Done early, the work is quiet. A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust funded more than five years before application removes the home and other transferred assets from the countable resource calculation, and from the recovery process.
Other pre-planning tools include lawful spend-downs on exempt assets, spousal transfers, and caregiver agreements that pay a family member for documented care under arms-length terms.
[ Crisis planning ]
When the diagnosis is already in the room.
If a family is past the five-year window, the strategies are narrower and the timing is different. Crisis-mode planning often involves spousal transfers, halving and protecting strategies, and the use of Medicaid-compliant annuities.
We will tell you honestly what is and is not possible at the moment you call us. The point is not to oversell. The point is to spare the family a worse outcome.
[ Recovery ]
What happens after death.
TennCare has the right to seek reimbursement from a deceased recipient's probate estate for the long-term care it paid for. The home, if it was retained in the recipient's name, is the most common recovery target.
A properly drafted MAPT, funded outside the lookback, removes the home from the probate estate and from the recovery process. This is the central reason the trust exists.
[ The Work ]
How we approach a Medicaid case.
[ Honest Assessment ]
Where the family stands.
An upfront timeline analysis, with plain language about what is and is not still possible given the family's current position.
[ Strategy ]
The right tools, at the right time.
MAPT, spend-down, spousal transfers, caregiver agreements, and annuities, used selectively where the situation warrants.
[ Application ]
Filed and defended.
Application preparation and, where needed, response to TennCare requests for additional documentation.
[ Pricing ]
Engagement-based, depends on stage.
Pre-planning engagements are flat-fee. Crisis-mode work is engagement-based and depends on the complexity. Either way, the figure is disclosed in writing before we begin.
[ Questions ]
What clients usually ask.
Recovery from the probate estate is real and routine. The home is the most common target. A properly drafted MAPT, funded outside the lookback, prevents that recovery.
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