Norcross Medicaid Planning Lawyer
Bowman Law Firm works with Norcross families who want to keep a lifetime of savings, and often the family home, from being consumed by the cost of a nursing home or long-term care, and the firm serves Gwinnett County and the greater Atlanta area. A Norcross Medicaid planning lawyer helps you arrange assets, titles, and trusts well before care is needed, so that Georgia Medicaid can eventually step in without first requiring you to spend down everything you own.
The single most important fact about Medicaid planning in Georgia is the timing. Georgia Medicaid reviews transfers made during the 60 months before you apply for nursing home or waiver coverage. A gift, a below-value sale, or a retitled account inside that window can trigger a penalty period during which Medicaid will not pay, even though you are in a facility and out of money. Planning five years ahead gives a family room to work. Planning during a crisis leaves far fewer choices.
That does not mean a crisis is hopeless. Married couples, people who already have a parent in care, and families facing a sudden hospital discharge to a nursing home still have tools available. What changes is which tools, and how carefully they have to be used.
How Georgia Medicaid Decides Who Qualifies for Long-Term Care Coverage
Georgia Medicaid for nursing home care and home and community-based waiver services is a means-tested program. It looks at two things: what you own and what you earn. For a single applicant, the countable asset limit is very low, and the program sets a monthly income ceiling that applies to the applicant. Both figures are adjusted periodically, so the numbers worth relying on are the ones confirmed at the time you plan, not the ones you read online last year.
Not everything you own counts. Your primary residence is generally exempt as long as your equity stays under a state-set cap, which is also updated from time to time. A vehicle, personal belongings, and certain prepaid burial arrangements are typically treated differently from bank accounts, investments, and second properties. Part of the work in any Medicaid plan is sorting what is countable from what is not, and then deciding what to do about the countable portion.
For married couples the rules are different and more forgiving. When one spouse needs care and the other remains at home, the at-home spouse can keep a protected share of the couple’s resources, known as the community spouse resource allowance, up to a federal and state-set maximum. The at-home spouse’s own income is not counted against the spouse who needs care. Getting those protections documented correctly is one of the most valuable things a Medicaid planning attorney does.
Why Bowman Law Firm Handles Medicaid Planning Differently
The firm serves families in Norcross and throughout Gwinnett County, and across Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Forsyth, and Hall counties and the greater Atlanta area. Clients work directly with an attorney who knows their family and their goals, and the staff speaks English, Spanish, and Vietnamese, which matters when an adult child and an aging parent need to be in the same conversation about money and care.
Attorney Bowman’s background is broader than estate work. She has tried cases for a national consumer law firm, served as Law Clerk to a Federal Judge in Georgia, and handled personal injury defense matters for a large Florida law firm. That litigation and judicial experience shapes how the firm drafts: documents are written with an eye toward how banks, hospitals, the Medicaid agency, and courts will actually read them. Clients describe the firm as knowledgeable, reassuring, and attentive, and the firm’s guiding principle is that every client is a person first, a client second, and never a file number.
The process is straightforward. You start with a free discovery call, move to an initial consultation to design the plan (the fee for that consultation is $100), and finish with an in-person signing meeting where the plan is presented and explained. Virtual consultations are available for families whose members live in different places.
Medicaid Planning Tools the Firm Uses for Norcross Families
- Medicaid Asset Protection Trust: An irrevocable trust that holds savings or real estate outside your name so those assets are not counted once the look-back period has run. Georgia law lets creditors reach what a settlor can still receive from an irrevocable trust, so the trust must be drafted to limit what you keep access to, and that tradeoff has to be understood before signing.
- Home and Residence Planning: The family home is usually exempt within the equity cap, but it can still be exposed to estate recovery after death. Deed and trust structures can address that, and the right choice depends on who lives there and who inherits.
- Spousal Protection Planning: When one spouse needs nursing home care, the firm documents the at-home spouse’s protected resources and income so the healthy spouse is not left financially stranded.
- Durable Power of Attorney Drafting: Medicaid planning often has to happen after someone loses capacity. A properly drafted Georgia power of attorney that expressly authorizes gifting and trust funding lets a trusted agent carry out the plan. Georgia requires the principal’s signature, a competent witness, and a notary who is not that witness, all in each other’s presence.
- Trust Funding and Retitling: A Medicaid trust protects nothing until assets are actually moved into it. The firm handles retitling real estate and accounts and coordinating beneficiary designations.
- Penalty Period Management: When a transfer has already been made, the firm calculates the resulting penalty, which is the uncompensated value divided by a monthly divisor set by the state, and looks at whether part of a gift can be returned or restructured.
- Income Planning for Higher-Income Applicants: Applicants whose monthly income exceeds the program ceiling may need an income trust structure to qualify, which the firm evaluates case by case.
- Advance Directives Alongside the Financial Plan: A health care agent and written treatment wishes belong in the same plan, since the person who manages money and the person who speaks for medical care are often different people.
What to Do Right Now If Long-Term Care Is Near or Already Here
Start by sorting your situation into one of two categories: planning ahead or responding to a crisis. If no one needs care yet, the best move is to schedule a consultation while the 60-month look-back is still working in your favor. Gather a list of every account, property, life insurance policy, and retirement plan, along with the deeds and recent statements. The attorney will want to see what is countable and how each item is titled.
If a parent or spouse is already in a hospital or facility, do not move money on your own initiative. Well-meaning gifts to children, or quick transfers to a relative, are the most common way families create a penalty period they never needed. Keep every bank statement and receipt for the last five years, because Medicaid will ask for them. Bring the original power of attorney, if one exists, so the attorney can confirm it grants the authority needed to carry out a plan.
If the person needing care has already lost capacity and has no power of attorney, the path runs through the Probate Court of Gwinnett County, which handles guardianships and conservatorships for incapacitated adults. Families in neighboring counties would use the probate court in their own county. That route is slower and more expensive than having signed documents on file, which is a good illustration of why powers of attorney belong in every plan.
Finally, avoid the mistake of waiting until savings are nearly gone to ask for help. Spending down on legitimate expenses, converting assets into exempt forms, and structuring a trust all work best with several months of runway.
Medicaid Planning and the Rest of Your Estate Plan
Medicaid planning is not a standalone product. It sits inside a larger plan that includes a will, a revocable or irrevocable trust, and incapacity documents, and those pieces have to agree with one another. A revocable living trust, for example, is a strong tool for avoiding probate and managing assets during incapacity, but under Georgia law a revocable trust’s property remains reachable by the settlor’s creditors during life, and Medicaid treats it as the applicant’s own asset. It protects privacy and convenience, not eligibility.
Georgia has no state estate tax and no inheritance tax, so families here are rarely planning around death taxes. The real financial threat to a middle-class estate is the cost of care, which is why Medicaid planning is often the center of the plan rather than an afterthought. A will still matters, since only a will can name a guardian for minor children, and a pour-over will catches anything left outside a trust. The firm also handles trust amendments when life changes, and trust administration when a successor trustee needs guidance.
Questions Norcross Families Ask About Medicaid Planning
Can I give my house to my children to qualify for Medicaid?
You can, but doing so without planning is risky. A gift of the home within the 60-month look-back period can trigger a penalty, and a straight transfer can cause the children to lose a favorable tax basis. There are safer ways to move or protect a home, and the right one depends on who lives there and what your goals are.
How long is the Medicaid look-back period in Georgia?
It is 60 months for long-term care Medicaid, covering nursing home care and waiver programs. Medicaid reviews financial records for that period and looks for transfers made for less than fair market value.
When does the penalty period start?
Not when you make the gift. The penalty begins once you are otherwise eligible, meaning you are in a facility or waiver program, your countable assets are within the limit, and you have applied. That is why a gift made carelessly can leave you with no assets and no coverage at the same time.
How is the penalty length calculated?
The uncompensated value of what you transferred is divided by a monthly divisor that Georgia’s Department of Community Health recalculates each year. The result is the number of months Medicaid will refuse to pay for your care.
Does my spouse have to spend everything down?
No. The spouse who stays at home may keep a protected share of the couple’s resources, up to a maximum that is adjusted periodically, and the at-home spouse’s income is not counted against the applicant. Those protections have to be claimed and documented correctly.
Will Medicaid take my home after I die?
Georgia can seek recovery from a Medicaid recipient’s estate for the cost of care. How exposed the home is depends on how it is titled and what planning was done. This is one of the topics worth raising early with an attorney.
Is a revocable living trust enough to protect assets from nursing home costs?
No. A revocable trust lets you change or revoke it, so Georgia law treats its property as yours for creditor purposes during your life, and Medicaid counts it the same way. It helps with probate and incapacity but does not shelter assets for eligibility.
My parent has dementia and no power of attorney. Can we still plan?
Options narrow once capacity is lost. Georgia requires a person to have capacity to sign a power of attorney, so if your parent cannot, the family may need to petition the probate court for guardianship or conservatorship before a plan can move forward. Some Medicaid-friendly steps may still be available through that process.
Do I need to do this if I only own a modest amount?
Often yes, and sometimes more urgently. When countable assets are small, a single misstep, such as a gift to a grandchild, can cost a meaningful share of what a family has. Smaller estates have less room for error, and exempt assets like the home still need to be handled carefully.
Can Medicaid planning be done if my family lives in different places?
Yes. Bowman Law Firm offers virtual consultations, and the staff speaks English, Spanish, and Vietnamese, so an adult child in another state and a parent in Gwinnett County can join the same conversation.
How much does it cost to get started?
The firm offers a free discovery call, and the initial consultation to design the plan is $100. The recommended structure, and its cost, depends on your assets and goals and is discussed before you commit.
Serving Medicaid Planning Clients From Norcross Across Gwinnett and Metro Atlanta
Bowman Law Firm’s Medicaid planning work starts with Norcross and Gwinnett County, including neighbors in Peachtree Corners, Duluth, Lilburn, Lawrenceville, Suwanee, and Buford. Along the Buford Highway corridor, the firm works with families in Doraville, Chamblee, and Brookhaven, many of whom value being able to plan in Spanish or Vietnamese. In north Fulton the firm serves Johns Creek, Alpharetta, and Roswell, and in the Perimeter area, Dunwoody and Sandy Springs.
The firm also assists families in Marietta in Cobb County, Decatur in DeKalb County, Cumming in Forsyth County, and Gainesville in Hall County, as well as Dalton. Wherever your parent or spouse lives, the same Georgia Medicaid rules apply, and the same careful planning applies with them.
Talk With a Norcross Medicaid Planning Attorney Before the Look-Back Works Against You
The families who come out best are the ones who start early, but a late start is not a lost cause. Whether you are building a plan years ahead of need or responding to a hospital discharge this week, Bowman Law Firm can walk you through what is available and what each option costs you in control and flexibility.
If you are looking for a Norcross Medicaid planning attorney who will explain every option in plain language and work directly with you, call to schedule a free discovery call or a consultation with attorney Shireen Hormozdi Bowman.
