Miller Trust Lawyer in Waco, Texas

Who needs a Miller Trust?

The classic case is an unmarried applicant whose monthly income — Social Security, a pension, an annuity — runs just above the Medicaid income limit while nursing home care costs several times that. Income too high to qualify, nowhere near high enough to pay the bill. The qualified income trust closes that gap: the excess income is deposited into the trust and paid out toward care, and the state does not count it against eligibility.

What it is not is an asset-hiding device. A Miller Trust addresses income, not resources, and it does not touch the separate rules that govern a house, savings or a transfer made in the past. If your problem is resources rather than income, the answer is different planning, and we will say so rather than sell you a trust that does not fit.

How does the trust actually work month to month?

A trust document is drafted and signed, a dedicated bank account is opened in the trust's name, and the applicant's income begins flowing into that account. Each month the trustee pays out what the rules allow — largely toward the cost of care — and the account is not permitted to accumulate a balance the way a normal savings account would.

The administration is where these arrangements go wrong. Deposits that miss a month, income that never gets redirected, disbursements to the wrong payee, or a balance left sitting in the account can all put eligibility at risk. We set the trust up, explain to the trustee exactly what to do each month in plain language, and stay reachable when the caseworker sends a request the family does not understand.

What else usually has to be handled at the same time?

Rarely just the trust. The applicant needs a valid durable power of attorney so someone can sign for them; if there is none and capacity is already gone, a guardianship may be required first. If there is a spouse still at home, their income and resources have their own rules and their own planning.

And there is almost always an estate plan to update — a will that no longer reflects the family, or a beneficiary designation that would undo the planning. Long-term care work is the reason this firm does both planning and elder law: they are the same conversation at different stages of a life.