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share of cost. The Medicaid applicant may have countable resources of up to $4,000 to qualify for Medicaid for LTC. Under %u201cspousal impoverishment%u201d rules for married applicants, the %u201ccommunity spouse%u201d (CS) may keep their own separate income, plus enough of the applicant%u2019s income to get the CS%u2019s income up to $4,066.50 (2026) per month (the %u201cmonthly maintenance needs allowance%u201d) if the CS%u2019s separate income is less than this amount. The CS may own separate countable resources of up to $162,660 (the %u201ccommunity spouse resource allowance%u201d). Assets may be transferred from the nursing home spouse to the community spouse to achieve these levels. In addition, the applicant (nursing home spouse) may have separate countable resources of up to $4,000. The separate income of the applicant spouse that is not assigned to the CS as part of the monthly maintenance needs allowance must be applied each month to pay nursing home cost as the applicant%u2019s %u201cshare of cost,%u201d but the community spouse%u2019s income and assets need not be spent for this care. Mississippi has obtained federal waivers to use Medicaid funds to offer services in Home and Community-based (HCBS) programs designed to help recipients avoid institutionalization. These include: (1) Elderly and Disabled Waiver, which provides respite, adult day care, meals, homemaker and other services for older persons with deficits in at least 3 of the activities of daily living; (2) Physically Handicapped (Independent Living) Waiver, which provides personal care attendant services to physically disabled persons; (3) Intellectually Disabled/Developmentally Disabled (ID/DD) Waiver, which provides day-habilitation, respite care, attendant care, and speech/physical/occupational therapies to persons who would, without such services, require the level of care in an Intermediate Care Facility for the Mentally Retarded; (4) Assisted Living Waiver, which provides homemaker, attendant care, medication supervision, social and recreational therapies, transportation and other services to residents of personal care homes and other congregate living facilities who would otherwise require placement in a nursing facility; and (5) Traumatic Brain Injury/Spinal Cord Injury Waiver, which provides services to persons with traumatic brain injuries or spinal cord injuries necessary to help them avoid institutionalization. The financial eligibility for these groups is the same as for nursing home Medicaid, and there are other eligibility criteria, services and population limitations on these groups.The client whose spouse is incapacitated should consider moving all assets of the couple to the capable spouse%u2019s ownership and should then execute a last will and testament that does one of two things: (a) leaves a small legacy to the incapacitated spouse, to avoid automatic renunciation of the will under MCA %u00a7 91-5-27, and leaves the balance of the estate to trusted children; or (b) leaves all assets at the capable spouse%u2019s death to a testamentary discretionary third party trust for the benefit of the incapacitated spouse, with the remainder to children or other beneficiaries at the latter%u2019s death. This plan will prevent the couple%u2019s assets from becoming owned by the incapacitated spouse if the capable spouse dies first, allowing the incapacitated spouse to become eligible for Medicaid if nursing home or HCBS benefits are needed. The assets not used for care of the incapacitated spouse will be passed on to the intended recipients at the second death.SummaryPublic benefits are important financial and medical resources for persons with disabilities. Lawyers with a basic knowledge of those benefits and the strategies to facilitate access to them %u2013 like special needs trusts and ABLE accounts %u2013 may help improve their lives.WINTER 2026 19