If you have aging parents, young kids, or assets you’ve accumulated, an irrevocable trust might be the most important document you’ve never thought about.

When you put assets into an irrevocable trust, you’re moving them out of your name and into the trust’s name. Yes, that means you give up direct ownership. But since you will not legally own those assets, Medicaid cannot count them against you, creditors cannot target your assets, and your family will never go through the expensive and delayed process of probate. What you put into the irrevocable trust stays in it completely until it meets its rightful owners.

Under O.C.G.A. § 53-12-61 (Georgia’s Trust Code), an irrevocable trust generally can’t be changed once it’s set up without the consent of everyone involved or a court’s involvement. So, the permanence is exactly what makes the protection real.

At Arch Legacy Firm, our all-mom team of irrevocable trust attorneys has helped Watkinsville families create plans that protect their assets from any legal exposure and provide for their families.

In Georgia, you can only have $2,000 in countable assets to qualify for Medicaid nursing home coverage. Nursing home care averages over $7,000 a month in Georgia. Without an irrevocable trust, a lifetime of savings can disappear in less than a year with nothing left for your family.

A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT) is built specifically for this. It holds your assets outside of Medicaid’s reach so you can qualify for coverage without spending everything first. The catch is timing. Georgia has a five-year look-back period, meaning assets need to be in the trust at least five years before you apply. Transfer money too close to the application date, and Medicaid will still count it and penalize you for it.

The earlier you start with an irrevocable trust attorney, the more you can protect for the people you love.

If You Have Kids, This Applies to You Too

Irrevocable trusts aren’t just for elder law planning. If you want to set aside money for your children’s education, housing, or future care, an irrevocable trust locks that money in place, and creditors cannot touch it.

What About Taxes?

Georgia has no state estate tax, but the federal rate is 40% on everything above the exemption. That threshold is expected to drop from $13.99 million to around $7 million per person as the current tax law changes. For families with a home, retirement accounts, life insurance, and a business, that ceiling gets closer than most people expect.

When assets go into an irrevocable trust, they’re removed from your taxable estate entirely.

Irrevocable Life Insurance Trust (ILIT) — Life insurance you own in your own name counts toward your taxable estate. An ILIT holds the policy instead, keeping that payout out of the IRS’s reach.

An irrevocable trust is one of the most effective ways to make sure the IRS doesn’t take a 40% cut of your assets