How to Set Up a Miller Trust in Delaware: Step by Step
Delaware 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 DHSS/DMMA'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 Delaware's $2,485/month long-term-care Medicaid cap (income cap effective October 1994 (2026 dollar figure); personal needs allowance effective January 2025) so the applicant qualifies. For complex estates, consult a Delaware-licensed elder-law attorney. This guide is informational only and is not legal advice — we explain what DHSS/DMMA's policy requires; we do not draft the trust or provide sample trust language.
Delaware does not publish a fill-in Miller Trust form, so the trust is drafted — by an attorney, or by you where permitted — to meet Delaware Health and Social Services (DHSS), Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance (DMMA) -- determines Medicaid long-term-care financial eligibility, including Miller Trust review, through the Medicaid Central Intake Unit.'s own published requirements. Here is the full sequence, with the DHSS/DMMA fact behind each step.
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Confirm the applicant's income is over the Delaware cap
A Qualified Income Trust only helps when monthly countable income exceeds Delaware's long-term-care Medicaid limit — $2,485/month single (income cap effective October 1994 (2026 dollar figure); personal needs allowance effective January 2025). If income is under the cap, a trust usually is not needed.
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Get the required-provisions checklist
Delaware does not publish a fill-in QIT form. DHSS/DMMA's own published policy (16 Del. Admin. Code Sec 20400.11 ("Income Trusts (Miller Trusts)"), Delaware Social Services Manual (DSSM), Title 16 Sec 20000 (Medicaid Long Term Care); cross-referenced by DSSM Sec 20100.2.2 (250% of SSI income standard), Sec 20620.1 (Personal Needs Allowance), and Sec 20400.1 (trust definitions); federal authority 42 U.S.C. Sec 1396p(d)(4)(B)) 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
No Delaware Supreme Court case, UPL Subcommittee opinion, or DSBA ethics opinion specifically addresses Medicaid-planning kits or trust-drafting kits. Delaware also has no codified statute criminalizing the unauthorized practice of law by non-lawyers generally -- UPL runs through Delaware Supreme Court Rule 62 and the UPL Subcommittee's own complaint-driven process, which issues no advisory opinions. That said, because DMMA publishes no fill-in form, drafting a Miller Trust from the requirements below means producing an original legal document from scratch -- a materially different task than filling in an existing state form. For most families, that argues for an attorney: self-drafting carries more risk of missing a required clause -- including Delaware's monthly-payment and anti-overfunding rules and its state payback language -- than filling in an existing form would. Budget for an attorney; this guide is what keeps that engagement efficient.
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Name a trustee
DSSM Sec 20400.11 (read in full, all nine subsections) contains no language specifying who may or may not serve as trustee of a Miller Trust, and no explicit prohibition on the beneficiary serving as their own trustee -- a confirmed silence in the rule text, not an oversight in this guide's research.
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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 $2,485 — in the same calendar month you want coverage to start. DHSS/DMMA 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 DHSS/DMMA's rules each month is what keeps benefits from being pulled.
The two steps families get stuck on are opening the bank account in Delaware and funding the trust before the calendar month closes — see how long setting up a Delaware Miller Trust takes for the timing rules.
What your Delaware trust must contain
Delaware does not publish a fill-in Qualified Income Trust form. Delaware's Division of Medicaid and Medical Assistance (DMMA) does not publish a fill-in Miller Trust form. Its governing regulation, DSSM Sec 20400.11 ("Income Trusts (Miller Trusts)"), instead lists in detail what a compliant trust must do -- income-only funding, irrevocability, monthly medical-care payments, an anti-overfunding limit, and a state payback clause -- but attaches no sample or fill-in instrument. The Delaware Court of Chancery does publish Form CM50, a petition used to ask the court for authority to establish a Miller Trust in guardianship cases -- but that form's own instructions confirm the Court cannot help draft the trust itself. The checklist below is drawn directly from DSSM Sec 20400.11, read in full from the primary source, so you or your attorney can draft -- or verify a draft against -- a trust that actually satisfies what Delaware requires.
Before you go to the Delaware bank
Most wasted trips are a bank-procedure problem, not a trust problem. This free one-pager has the questions to ask on the phone before you drive to a branch — emailed now. We'll also send 4 short follow-ups over the next 3 weeks (why most denials are paperwork not eligibility, the trustee role, when to call an attorney) — then we stop. No ongoing newsletter.