Your state's pack. New issue every Monday. Bookmark it. Built for the Florida T&E solo who knows the Probate Code but still loses an afternoon tracking the moving Medicaid pieces — the 2026 income cap, the QIT, the constitutional homestead, the Lady Bird deed. What's below is what mattered in Florida this week.
For licensed attorneys. This pack is general legal information and professional commentary for practicing attorneys — it is not legal advice, does not apply to any specific matter, and creates no attorney-client relationship. Verify every authority against the cited primary source before relying on it with a client. Published by Mike Moss, a Utah-admitted attorney, as an AI-enablement information product; it is not an offer of legal services and is not a representation that the author is admitted to practice in your jurisdiction.
Three developments I think actually matter to a Florida T&E solo. Each comes with a reachable citation so you can verify it yourself before you use it with a client.
For 2026 the ICP (Institutional Care Program) and HCBS-waiver income cap is $2,982/month for a single applicant, the asset limit is $2,000, and the community spouse resource allowance protects up to roughly $162,660. Florida is an income-cap state, so over-cap clients route excess income through a Qualified Income (Miller) Trust.
For a Florida solo the practical posture is the QIT-plus-CSRA combination: shelter the at-home spouse's resources up to the $162,660 ceiling, and stand up the QIT before the eligibility month for the over-cap applicant. Refresh any 2025 figures in your intake worksheets — the cap and CSRA both moved.
Reported 2026 figures: elderneedslaw.com/blog/important-changes-to-florida-medicaid-in-2026 · medicaidplanningassistance.org/medicaid-eligibility-florida
Article X, § 4 of the Florida Constitution protects the homestead from forced sale by most creditors, and homestead that descends to heirs passes outside the reach of most claims. Estate recovery reaches only the probate estate, and Florida does not impose a lifetime lien on a homestead a recipient intends to return to.
The defining Florida move is keeping the home out of the probate estate so the constitutional protection carries to the heirs — which is exactly what the Lady Bird deed does. For a Florida solo, homestead structuring is not a side issue; it is the plan.
Fla. Const. art. X § 4 · Fla. Stat. § 732.401
Florida recognizes the enhanced life estate, or Lady Bird, deed: the owner keeps full control and use during life — including the right to sell or revoke — and the property passes automatically to a named beneficiary at death, bypassing probate. Because estate recovery reaches only the probate estate, a home that transfers by Lady Bird deed generally falls outside recovery.
For a Florida solo this is the pairing to reach for: a Lady Bird deed to keep the homestead out of probate, plus a QIT for the over-cap applicant. Together they protect the home and clear the income gate in one plan — the two moves that come up in nearly every Florida ICP matter.
Florida enhanced life estate (Lady Bird) deed · see elderneedslaw.com/miller-trusts-qualified-income-trusts-florida
This week in Florida for the T&E solo with Medicaid-planning clients: what The Florida Bar, the local bars, and the Florida DCF / AHCA Medicaid bulletins actually put in front of you — CLEs worth the seat, Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section notices, ethics opinions, and Medicaid notices that moved the eligibility or recovery math.
The Florida Bar CLE calendar, the RPPTL Section, the local bar notices, and the DCF/AHCA bulletins all publish on different schedules and almost none of it is indexed by practice-focus. A Florida T&E solo doing eligibility and estate-recovery planning spends half an hour a week sifting for the three items that touch the vehicles they draft — QITs, Lady Bird deeds, homestead, community-spouse protection. This is that sift, already done. Half an hour a week adds up to a working day every quarter. You get it back.