If you or a loved one needs care in a nursing home, you are likely looking into how you can afford the care you need. You may have heard that you have to spend down your assets before qualifying for assistance. Yet, through emergency Medicaid planning, you can protect a sizable portion of your assets while still benefiting from Medicaid’s long-term care coverage. An elder lawyer can help you structure your assets and coordinate your Medicaid application to maximize the amount you can protect, even if you need care urgently.
The team at Brockstedt Mandalas Federico LLC (BMF) has years of experience helping clients to afford Medicaid benefits without spending down their entire fortune first. We can help you complete Medicaid crisis planning in Delaware by working with you to understand your unique circumstances and creating a tailored plan that works for you and your family. Contact our lawyers today!
Emergency Medicaid Planning for Nursing Home Care: What to Know
If you need nursing home care now, here is what our Delaware elder law attorneys want you to know about Medicaid crisis planning.
- Emergency Medicaid planning can help you protect assets and qualify for nursing home coverage even if you need care immediately, without spending down everything first.
- In Delaware, Medicaid limits countable resources to $2,000 for an individual (or $3,000 for a couple who both need care) and income to $2,485 per month, though a healthy spouse can typically keep up to $162,660.
- Medicaid reviews asset transfers made in the five years before your application, and transfers for less than fair market value can trigger a penalty period.
- Crisis planning in elder law in Delaware can include exempt transfers, Medicaid Compliant Annuities, and trusts like a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust to protect resources even under time pressure.
How Does Medicaid Long-Term Care Coverage Work?
Medicaid is a government benefits program that provides health care for individuals with limited income and resources. Along with paying for ordinary medical expenses, Medicaid also pays the costs of long-term care when you need a nursing home level of care and meet strict asset and income limits. The program is the primary vehicle many individuals use to pay for their care.
Income and Resource Limits
To qualify for Medicaid long-term care benefits, you can only own up to $2,000 in countable resources. If you are married and both of you need care, you can jointly own up to $3,000 in countable resources. Medicaid does not count specific assets when determining the overall value of your resources, including:
- A primary home that you live in,
- A primary vehicle, and
- Personal belongings.
For married couples, a spouse who does not apply for coverage can retain a portion of the couple’s combined resources. In Delaware, the other spouse can keep up to $162,660.
You can also only earn up to $2,485 per month in income and qualify for benefits. If you earn more, you cannot qualify for benefits without having a special trust.
The Lookback Period
When Medicaid reviews your countable assets, it also reviews what assets you owned in the previous five years. If you owned more than $2,000 in countable assets, the government considers what you did with those assets. Transferring assets away for less than fair market value during those five years triggers additional scrutiny.
Ineligibility Period
After Medicaid determines you transferred assets away for less than fair market value, it imposes an ineligibility period. During that time, Medicaid will not pay for your care. It will begin paying once the period expires, provided you meet Medicaid’s eligibility requirements.
The amount you transfer and the typical cost of care in the state where you apply determine the length of the ineligibility period. Each state publishes information about the average costs of care each year. To determine your penalty period, you divide the excess amount you transferred by this published number. In Delaware in 2026, the value is $13,378.33 per month. For example, if someone applies for Medicaid after transferring $100,000 to their children, they may be ineligible for benefits for 7 months.
What Can You Accomplish Through Crisis Planning in Elder Law in Delaware?
Crisis planning in elder law in Delaware takes advantage of all options available to you. Your elder lawyer will work with you to understand what is most important to you and protect as much as possible.
Making Exempt Transfers
In limited circumstances, a Medicaid applicant can transfer assets without incurring the typical penalty. You may be able to transfer property to a:
- Spouse who lives at home,
- Child who is blind or permanently disabled, or
- Trust that benefits a disabled individual under age 65.
Even if exempt transfers are not an option, your lawyer can advise you on strategic non-exempt transfers.
Making Non-Exempt Transfers
Another strategy in crisis planning is to deliberately and knowingly incur an ineligibility penalty. If you do not have the option to make exempt transfers, you may make non-exempt transfers of a portion of your overall funds. Then, you use the other portion of your funds to pay for care while the penalty period passes. After the period ends, Medicaid begins to pay for your care, while you decide what happens to the portion you transfer away. Often, you make non-exempt transfers directly as gifts to your loved ones or by creating an irrevocable trust.
Restructuring and Spending Assets
Your crisis plan may involve restructuring your assets and spending them on purchases that do not increase your countable resources. One of the most important tools in crisis planning is the Medicaid Compliant Annuity (MCA). You can purchase an MCA to convert funds into a stream of income for yourself or your spouse, reducing your overall resources while ensuring you will get the funds you need.
How you spend your funds also matters for Medicaid purposes. An elder lawyer can advise you on how you can spend your funds on permissible purchases as part of a broader crisis plan. You may, for example, prepay funeral expenses or purchase medically necessary equipment not covered by Medicare or Medicaid.
Using Trusts
Often, your crisis plan will use a trust to protect assets. To not be countable for Medicaid eligibility, the trust must be irrevocable and limit your ability to use its property. Common Medicaid trusts include Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts (MAPTs) and Miller Trusts (also called qualified income trusts). MAPTs hold your assets and prevent the government from counting them for Medicaid resource limits. Miller Trusts pull excess income away so that you receive only up to the program’s limits each month.
Emergency Medicaid Planning: Common Questions
Straight answers to what our Delaware elder law attorneys get asked most about Medicaid crisis planning.
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Emergency Medicaid planning, also called Medicaid crisis planning, helps you qualify for nursing home coverage without fully spending down your assets first, even if you need care right away. An elder law attorney can restructure your finances, use exempt transfers, and apply other crisis planning strategies to protect as much of your resources as possible.
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In Delaware, an individual can own up to $2,000 in countable resources, or $3,000 if both spouses need care, and earn up to $2,485 per month. A spouse who does not need care can generally keep up to $162,660 of the couple’s combined resources. Certain assets are not counted toward these limits.
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Medicaid reviews the five years before your application and scrutinizes any assets transferred for less than fair market value during that time. Transfers within the lookback period can trigger a penalty period during which Medicaid will not pay for care. Crisis planning in elder law in Delaware uses strategies like exempt transfers and trusts to work within these rules.
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Transferring assets for less than fair market value can create a Medicaid ineligibility period, calculated by dividing the transferred amount by Delaware’s average monthly cost of care. For example, transferring $100,000 could result in roughly seven months of ineligibility. An elder lawyer can help you plan around an existing transfer or fund your care during the penalty period.
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Yes. Even if you need nursing home care immediately, emergency Medicaid planning can help you protect assets through tools like Medicaid Compliant Annuities, permissible spending, and Medicaid Asset Protection Trusts or Miller Trusts. An elder law attorney can act quickly to structure a plan tailored to your situation.
Speak with an Elder Lawyer About Medicaid Crisis Planning in Delaware
The costs of long-term care are far beyond what nearly all of us can afford. BMF is here to guide you through emergency Medicaid planning. Our experienced attorneys have handled countless Medicaid crisis cases, and we can design a strategy that saves more of your hard-earned resources for yourself and your family. With a multidisciplinary approach, we can help no matter how complex your situation is.
Contact us today to start your plan.
Legal References Used to Inform This Page
To ensure the accuracy and clarity of this page, we referenced official legal and other resources during the content development process:
- Social Security, SSI Federal Payment Amounts for 2026.
- American Council on Aging, How Medicaid Calculates the Penalty Period for Look-Back Violations (May 4, 2026).
- American Council on Aging, Delaware Medicaid (Diamond State Health Plan) Eligibility for Long Term Care: Income & Asset Limits (Mar. 4, 2026).
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