019: The Medicaid Five-Year Lookback Rule Explained: What Counts as a Gift

John Marshall opens this episode of Trust Me, It's Complicated by tackling a rule that trips up more families than almost any other part of Medicaid planning: the five year lookback. He explains why Medicaid requires five years of bank statements, what actually counts as a gift in their eyes, and how something as ordinary as helping a daughter with a down payment can create years of ineligibility down the road. He also breaks down the monthly divisor calculation Medicaid uses to set penalties, and clears up a common misconception about when that penalty clock actually starts.

Along the way, John shares a real client story involving a transferred homestead property and a family relationship that fractured before the problem could be fixed, plus a legal alternative worth knowing: the caregiver agreement.

Anyone weighing a gift, a transfer, or a future Medicaid application should hear this one first.

In this episode, you will hear:

• Why Medicaid rules differ dramatically from state to state, even for neighboring states like Georgia and Florida
• The difference between assets and income under Medicaid, and which items like cars and homes are excluded
• What triggers the five year lookback and why five years of bank statements matter for every account, even closed ones
• How the monthly divisor works to calculate a penalty period after a disqualifying gift
• A real case where a transferred homestead property led to a lengthy Medicaid penalty and a fractured family relationship
• Why the penalty clock starts at the date of application, not the date of the gift
• How a properly structured caregiver agreement can move assets legally without violating gifting rules

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Episode Credits

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