A qualified income trust, or QIT, is a trust that Medicaid requires if a Medicaid applicant has a monthly gross income of more than three times the SSI poverty limit, Medicaid will deny the resident’s application for benefits. For 2019, this figure is $2,313. It is adjusted each January.

Medicaid knows that an income of that amount is really not enough to pay for long-term care. Therefore, Medicaid permits the QIT process to get around this problem.

At Kentucky ElderLaw, PLLC, we prepare qualified income trusts, also known as Miller Trusts, for our clients. They must be prepared properly to comply with federal and state law. We prepare legally sound trusts to help you obtain the Medicaid coverage you need.

Naturally, most estates of Medicaid recipients have little or no money, since that is one of the eligibility requirements for Medicaid. Therefore, Medicaid estate recovery will not recover anything if there is nothing.

In Kentucky, there is no estate recovery if there is a surviving spouse or a totally disabled adult child, or if the estate is below $10,000. However, the definition of estate is much broader than the probate definition and includes property held jointly with another person, assets in a revocable trust, life estates and other assets owned at the moment before death. For this reason, it is important to engage in Medicaid planning for the surviving spouse of a Medicaid recipient.