Your state's pack. New issues arrive periodically on Mondays. 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
Decisions from the courts that bind a Florida practitioner — the Supreme Court of Florida and the District Courts of Appeal, the U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Middle, and Southern Districts of Florida, and the Eleventh Circuit — read for what actually changes how you draft, advise, and plan. Trusts and estates broadly, not Medicaid alone: wills and capacity, undue influence, fiduciary duty, trust construction, and estate recovery. One read, the holding, and the official cite.
A son challenged his late mother’s December 2022 will — signed two days before her death, after months of documented cognitive decline — on testamentary-capacity, execution, and undue-influence grounds. The probate court granted summary judgment against him for lack of standing, reasoning he would be worse off (reduced to a contingent creditor claim) if the earlier will were reinstated. The Fourth District reversed: under section 731.201(23), Florida Statutes, a contestant need not prove his share would actually be larger if he wins — it is enough that he is ‘affected’ by the outcome, and being shifted between legatee and potential-creditor postures is exactly that. The court affirmed summary judgment on due execution under section 732.502 but held testamentary capacity (section 732.501) is a separate question that must go to trial, and reversed the orders admitting the will and appointing the personal representative.
Three things to carry into your files. One: ‘interested person’ standing under section 731.201(23) turns on whether the client is affected by the outcome, not on a dollar-quantified improvement — do not concede standing just because a contest might leave your client nominally worse off. Two: due execution (section 732.502) and testamentary capacity (section 732.501) are independent hurdles; a will that clears the witnessing formalities can still fail for an unsound mind, so plead and prove them separately. Three: when capacity is genuinely in dispute on the record, it is a fact question for trial, not summary judgment — build the medical and witness record accordingly.
Frank v. Conlan, Nos. 4D2024-1876 & 4D2024-2423 (Fla. 4th DCA Apr. 1, 2026) · official opinion — flcourts.gov
This week in Florida for the T&E solo with Florida Medicaid (SMMC LTC) clients: what The Florida Bar (RPPTL Section) and the Agency for Health Care Administration put in front of you.
The Florida Bar's RPPTL/ActionLine feed and AHCA's Medicaid LTC notices publish on different schedules. This is that sift, already done, with the link on each item.