How to Set Up a Miller Trust in Arizona: Step by Step
Arizona does not publish a fill-in Qualified Income Trust form. To meet its requirements, an attorney (or, where permitted, you) drafts the trust to satisfy AHCCCS's own published policy, names a trustee, opens a dedicated trust bank account, and funds it with the applicant's income in the same calendar month you want coverage to begin. The trust diverts income above Arizona's $2,982/month long-term-care Medicaid cap (effective February 2026 (income/resource standards); effective January 2026 (Personal Needs Allowance)) so the applicant qualifies. For complex estates, consult an Arizona-licensed elder-law attorney. This guide is informational only and is not legal advice — we explain what AHCCCS's policy requires; we do not draft the trust or provide sample trust language.
Arizona does not publish a fill-in Miller Trust form, so the trust is drafted — by an attorney, or by you where permitted — to meet Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System's own published requirements. Here is the full sequence, with the AHCCCS fact behind each step.
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Confirm the applicant's income is over the Arizona cap
A Qualified Income Trust only helps when monthly countable income exceeds Arizona's long-term-care Medicaid limit — $2,982/month single (effective February 2026 (income/resource standards); effective January 2026 (Personal Needs Allowance)). If income is under the cap, a trust usually is not needed.
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Get the required-provisions checklist
Arizona does not publish a fill-in QIT form. AHCCCS's own published policy (AHCCCS Eligibility Policy Manual (EPM) 803-C "Income Only Trusts" (a Special Treatment Trust subtype, with the general conditions at EPM 803-A) -- federal authority 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(B); state authority A.R.S. § 36-2934.01, A.A.C. R9-28-407.E, R9-28-408.F) instead lists exactly what a compliant trust must contain — the checklist tells you what to bring to an attorney or verify in a draft.
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Have the trust drafted
AHCCCS's policy does not state whether an Income-Only Trust must be attorney-drafted, and Arizona's Certified Legal Document Preparer program (ACJA § 7-208) explicitly permits nonlawyers to make legal forms and documents available to the public and provide general legal information. But because AHCCCS publishes no fill-in instrument to complete, drafting an original trust from the requirements below is, in practice, a task most families have an attorney handle -- drafting an original legal document (as opposed to filling in an existing one) carries materially more risk of missing a required clause than completing a state-provided form would. Budget for an attorney; this kit is what keeps that engagement efficient.
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Name a trustee
Arizona's own policy (AHCCCS EPM Chapter 803) does not name who may or may not serve as trustee of an Income-Only Trust -- it defines the trustee's duties and reporting obligations (45-day advance notice of trust-income or disbursement changes, monthly disbursements, no loans or gifts to third parties) without restricting who can hold the role.
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Open the dedicated trust bank account
Open a dedicated bank account titled to the trust once it is signed. Branches commonly hesitate to open this account type, so know what to say before you go.
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Fund the trust in the same calendar month
Deposit enough of the applicant's income into the trust account to bring remaining countable income below $2,982 — in the same calendar month you want coverage to start. AHCCCS does not back-date, so the month you fund is the earliest month eligibility can begin.
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Distribute monthly and keep records
Each month the trustee pays out only the allowed items and keeps records. Staying inside AHCCCS's rules each month is what keeps benefits from being pulled.
The two steps families get stuck on are opening the bank account in Arizona and funding the trust before the calendar month closes — see how long setting up an Arizona Miller Trust takes for the timing rules.
What your Arizona trust must contain
Arizona does not publish a fill-in Qualified Income Trust form. AHCCCS does not publish a fill-in Income-Only Trust form. Its own numbered publications -- DE-819, the Anticipated Disbursements Forms (DE-312/DE-313), and the Acknowledgement of Responsibilities as a Trustee (DE-522) -- are all administrative notice, disbursement-schedule, and reporting forms filed once a trust already exists; none of them is the trust instrument itself. Instead, the checklist below is drawn directly from AHCCCS's own required conditions in EPM 803-A (the conditions every Special Treatment Trust must meet) and EPM 803-C (the conditions specific to an Income-Only Trust) -- verbatim, clause by clause -- so you or your attorney can draft or verify a trust that actually satisfies what AHCCCS requires.
The Arizona denial traps that cost families a month of coverage
Most denials are paperwork, not eligibility. This free one-pager lists every AHCCCS denial trap with the citation behind it — emailed now. We'll also send 4 short follow-ups over the next 3 weeks (the bank step, the trustee role, when to call an attorney) — then we stop. No ongoing newsletter.