Do You Need a Lawyer to Set Up a Qualified Income Trust in Florida?
DCF's information sheet says professional help to set up a QIT is not required, but a Florida Supreme Court advisory opinion (SC14-211) treats a nonlawyer preparing a QIT for someone else as the unauthorized practice of law, so most Florida families use a Florida-licensed attorney. This guide explains what DCF's published policy requires a trust to contain; it does not draft, execute, or review a trust, and it is informational only, not legal advice.
What usually happens
Florida doesn't publish a fill-in form, so the trust has to be drafted to DCF's requirements, and an elder-law attorney quotes $1,000–$2,500 to research and draft it. Once it's signed, you take it to the bank, where the branch has never opened one of these and says no.
Meanwhile the month is running out. In Florida, coverage can't start before the month the trust is funded, so a month that slips is another month of private-pay nursing care at $10,342–$11,558.
This applies when the person who needs care has gross monthly income over Florida's income cap of $2,982, whether you're their child, their spouse, or a professional helping them.
Free: the questions to ask a Florida bank before your first visit
6 questions for a five-minute phone call, so you find out whether a branch knows how to open this account before you make the drive. Emailed now, then 4 short follow-ups over the next 10 days — then we stop.
What DCF's own materials say
DCF's own Qualified Income Trust Information Sheet states plainly that "you may obtain professional help to set up the QIT agreement, but it is not required," and Appendix A-22.1's review process allows the trust to be executed by the individual, their spouse, or a person with legal authority acting on their behalf -- not only by an attorney. Read against DCF's administrative posture alone, self-drafting might look permitted. But a Florida Supreme Court advisory opinion, The Florida Bar Re: Advisory Opinion -- Medicaid Planning Activities by Nonlawyers, SC14-211 (Fla. 2015), holds that a nonlawyer's determination of the need for, preparation, and execution of a Qualified Income Trust is the unauthorized practice of law -- a materially different and stricter conclusion than DCF's silence on the question would suggest. Because of that opinion, most families use a Florida-licensed attorney to draft the trust rather than draft it themselves, and DCF's own review process treats attorney-executed trusts as a streamlined path (Appendix A-22.1, Step 4: DCF "will assume... proper authority" when a licensed attorney is involved). This guide never drafts a trust, never provides sample or model trust language, and never reviews a document you or your attorney have drafted.
What this guide does and doesn't do
The Florida guide explains, in plain language, the 8 provisions DCF's policy requires a trust to contain, cited clause by clause. It does not determine whether you need a trust, and it does not draft, execute, or review one.
When families bring in an attorney anyway
The trust itself is one document, but it sits inside a larger Medicaid application. These situations raise questions the trust doesn't answer, and they're where an elder-law attorney's fee usually earns its keep:
- Significant savings or property beyond the applicant's monthly income.
- Gifts or transfers in the last five years, which Medicaid's look-back reviews.
- A spouse still living at home, whose own income and allowances affect the numbers.
- Property or accounts in more than one state.
- An applicant who can't sign for themselves and has no one holding a power of attorney or guardianship. State agencies generally ask whoever signs for the applicant to show that legal authority.
Finding an elder-law attorney in Florida
The Florida Bar -- Lawyer Referral Service is the lawyer referral service for Florida. Other resources for Florida families: Florida Senior Legal Helpline (elderaffairs.org) -- free civil legal advice for eligible Florida residents 60 and older, funded by the Florida Department of Elder Affairs and operated by Bay Area Legal Services; Florida Aging and Disability Resource Centers / Area Agency on Aging network (elderaffairs.org) -- 11 regional ADRCs serving every county in the state; Academy of Florida Elder Law Attorneys (afela.org) -- Florida's NAELA chapter, Find a Lawyer directory; National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) -- Find a Lawyer directory (naela.org). The National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys also lists its members by state. For what attorneys typically charge, see what it costs in Florida.
With or without an attorney, the bank is the next hurdle
Whoever writes or completes the trust, the trustee still has to open the account, and most branches have never opened one. Free one-pager: the questions to ask before you drive to a branch, emailed now. Then 4 more short emails over the next 10 days — then we stop.