The Medicaid Planning Document Checklist for Florida Adult Children

Why Karen Wanted to Walk In Prepared

Karen is 55 and lives in New Smyrna Beach. Her mother's dementia had progressed to the point where the family was looking seriously at memory care, and Karen, ever the organized one, did not want to spend the first hour of the consultation digging through her purse for account numbers. Karen is a composite, not an actual Truestead client, but her situation is one I see constantly: an adult child who senses the clock is ticking and wants to make the most of the attorney's time.

What I tell families like Karen's is that the first meeting with an elder law attorney is not just a conversation, it is a diagnostic exam. The more complete the file you bring, the more specific and useful the attorney's guidance can be on day one. Because Florida Medicaid eligibility review looks back five years at financial activity, the paperwork chase is real. This piece is not about the eligibility rules themselves (we cover those elsewhere), it is about what to physically gather before you ever pick up the phone.

Identity, Status, and Household Documents

• Social Security card and Medicare card for the parent needing care. The attorney needs these to confirm identity and benefit status for the Medicaid application itself.
• Birth certificate or proof of citizenship, since Medicaid eligibility requires confirmed citizenship or qualifying immigration status.
• Marriage certificate or documentation of a spouse's status, because Florida treats a married applicant very differently than a single one. A community spouse (the spouse remaining at home) is allowed to keep a protected share of countable assets, and the attorney cannot calculate that share without knowing the marital picture.
• Veteran discharge papers (DD-214) if applicable, since VA pension benefits can affect both eligibility and planning strategy.

Why this matters: the attorney is not just confirming who your parent is. Marital status alone can change the entire planning strategy, because assets can often be shifted or protected for a healthy spouse in ways that are not available to a single applicant.

Income Documentation

Bring proof of every source of income your parent receives, not just the obvious ones.

• Social Security award letter and recent deposit statements.
• Pension award letters from any former employer.
• VA pension or Aid and Attendance letters, if your parent is a veteran or a veteran's surviving spouse.
• Annuity payment statements, retirement account distributions, rental income records, and any other recurring deposits.

Why this matters: Florida is an income cap state for long-term care Medicaid, meaning there is a monthly income ceiling for eligibility. If your parent's income is above that ceiling, the attorney may recommend a Qualified Income Trust (sometimes called a Miller Trust) to redirect excess income and preserve eligibility. That trust cannot be built correctly without a full and accurate income picture, and it often cannot be funded properly if the underlying power of attorney document is too generic or outdated.

Assets, Real Estate, and Five Years of Account History

This is the part that surprises most families, including Karen, who assumed she just needed "current" statements.

• Five years of statements for every checking account, savings account, CD, money market account, brokerage account, IRA, and any other asset the applicant owns or owned during that period.
• Records of any accounts closed during the five-year window, along with an explanation of where those funds went.
• Deeds for any real estate owned now or sold within the past five years, along with mortgage statements showing current balances.
• Documentation of any property sale, including the sale price and how proceeds were used.
• Life insurance policies, including cash value policies, and any pre-need funeral or burial contracts.

Insurance, Retirement Accounts, and Existing Estate Planning Documents

Bring copies of long-term care insurance policies, health insurance and Medicare supplement policies, and statements for any retirement accounts (401(k), 403(b), traditional or Roth IRA). Retirement accounts are treated differently depending on payout status, so the attorney needs to see exactly how each one is structured.

Just as important, bring your parent's existing estate planning documents: any will, revocable trust, durable power of attorney, health care surrogate designation, and living will. If these documents were drafted years ago, or by an attorney outside Florida, they may need updating. A durable power of attorney that is too narrowly written, for example, may not give the agent authority to create or fund a Qualified Income Trust, which can stall planning at the worst possible moment.

Care Records, Level of Care, and the List of Transfers

Two more categories round out the file. First, medical and level-of-care documentation: recent physician evaluations, a diagnosis history, any existing assessment of activities of daily living, and records from a hospital stay or rehab facility if one preceded the current need for care. Medicaid eligibility for long-term care requires a functional, not just financial, determination, and the attorney needs to know where that process currently stands.

Second, and this is the one families most often underestimate: a written list of gifts, transfers, and sales made in the past five years, even ones that felt minor at the time. Helping pay a grandchild's tuition, adding a child's name to a bank account for convenience, selling a car to a nephew for less than it was worth: all of these can appear as uncompensated transfers on a Medicaid application. It is far better for the attorney to learn about them at the consultation than for DCF to flag them during review.

When Karen's family sat down with us, this exercise turned up two things Karen had not initially connected to Medicaid at all: a certificate of deposit her mother had closed two years earlier to help pay for a grandchild's wedding, and her mother's name still listed as a joint owner on a bank account belonging to Karen's brother from years back. Neither was a crisis, but both needed to be documented and explained rather than discovered later.

The Three Things Karen Almost Forgot

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice, nor does reading it create an attorney-client relationship. Florida estate, elder, probate, and real estate law are fact-specific and change over time. Consult a licensed Florida attorney about your individual circumstances. Arthur Simpson, Esq. is licensed to practice law in the State of Florida. Attorney advertising.