Another Word about QITs

I last wrote about qualified income trusts (QITs)last September but I want to revisit the topic because of 2 recent applications in our office in which the trustee failed to follow the very specific requirements that the State of New Jersey has imposed.

It has often happened that people call our office inquiring about how to set up a QIT and it turns out that they are a year or more away from actually being able to qualify for Medicaid.  They call because they have heard or read that a QIT is necessary.  It’s obviously something that comes up very quickly when searching for information about Medicaid on the internet.

The QIT is a critical piece to achieving and maintaining Medicaid eligibility, however, it also one of the aspects to Medicaid that is very easy to mess up ,simply because the State has made the mechanics of the trust and managing it so technical.

Before we get to that let’s review the basics.  Medicaid has a strict income cap ($2382 in 2021).  If an applicant’s income exceeds that number, Medicaid eligibility can only be achieved if a QIT is used to pass thru some of the income before sending it to either the facility providing care or in the case of a married couple to the healthy spouse.

That’s the general idea but the devil is in the detail.  Next week I’ll get to the detail.