How to Set Up a Miller Trust in Oregon: Step by Step
Oregon 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 ODHS APD'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 Oregon's $2,982/month long-term-care Medicaid cap (effective January 1, 2026 (OAR 461-155-0250, income standard, PNA, and 300%-SSI methodology all in the same amendment cycle); resource limit effective October 1, 2024 (OAR 461-160-0015)) so the applicant qualifies. For complex estates, consult an Oregon-licensed elder-law attorney. This guide is informational only and is not legal advice — we explain what ODHS APD's policy requires; we do not draft the trust or provide sample trust language.
Oregon does not publish a fill-in Miller Trust form, so the trust is drafted — by an attorney, or by you where permitted — to meet Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS), Aging and People with Disabilities (APD) -- handles Medicaid long-term-care financial eligibility determination and Income Cap Trust review via local APD/Area Agency on Aging (AAA) offices. The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) administers the broader Oregon Health Plan (OHP)/Coordinated Care Organization (CCO) medical side and coordinates with APD/AAA on long-term services and supports, but is not the eligibility determiner for the trust itself.'s own published requirements. Here is the full sequence, with the ODHS APD fact behind each step.
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Confirm the applicant's income is over the Oregon cap
A Qualified Income Trust only helps when monthly countable income exceeds Oregon's long-term-care Medicaid limit — $2,982/month single (effective January 1, 2026 (OAR 461-155-0250, income standard, PNA, and 300%-SSI methodology all in the same amendment cycle); resource limit effective October 1, 2024 (OAR 461-160-0015)). If income is under the cap, a trust usually is not needed.
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Get the required-provisions checklist
Oregon does not publish a fill-in QIT form. ODHS APD's own published policy (Oregon Administrative Rules, OAR 461-145-0540(9)(c) ("Trusts" -- Income Cap Trust provisions, effective 1-01-25); cross-referenced by OAR 461-180-0044 (Effective Dates; Income Cap Trust, eff. 7-18-23), OAR 461-135-0750 (Individuals Applying for or Receiving Long-Term Care or Home and Community-Based Care, eff. 7-01-19), OAR 461-155-0250 (Income and Payment Standard; OSIPM, eff. 1-01-26), and OAR 461-160-0015 (Resource Limits, eff. 10-01-24); federal authority 42 U.S.C. § 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
Oregon's own case law (Oregon State Bar v. Gilchrist, 1975, reaffirmed in Oregon State Bar v. Smith, 1997) protects the sale of generic, non-individualized legal information and self-help materials -- which is what this guide is. It does not address, and does not change, whether drafting an original trust instrument is something you should do yourself. Because ODHS publishes no fill-in form, drafting an Income Cap Trust from the requirements below means producing an original legal document from scratch, which involves the kind of discretionary legal judgment Oregon case law (State Bar v. Security Escrows, 1962) treats differently from merely filling in an existing state form. For most families, that argues for an attorney: self-drafting carries materially more risk of missing a required clause -- including Oregon's mandatory distribution order 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
OAR 461-145-0540 (read in full) contains no language specifying who may or may not serve as trustee of an Income Cap Trust, and no explicit prohibition on the beneficiary serving as their own trustee -- this is 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 $2,982 — in the same calendar month you want coverage to start. ODHS APD 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 ODHS APD's rules each month is what keeps benefits from being pulled.
The two steps families get stuck on are opening the bank account in Oregon and funding the trust before the calendar month closes — see how long setting up an Oregon Miller Trust takes for the timing rules.
What your Oregon trust must contain
Oregon does not publish a fill-in Qualified Income Trust form. ODHS does not publish a fill-in Income Cap Trust form. Its governing rule, OAR 461-145-0540(9)(c), instead lists in detail what a compliant trust must do -- whole-income funding, a fixed priority order for monthly distributions, an administrative-cost cap, a state payback clause, and functional irrevocability -- but attaches no sample or fill-in instrument for applicants to complete. The checklist below is drawn directly from that rule, 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 ODHS requires.
The Oregon denial traps that cost families a month of coverage
Most denials are paperwork, not eligibility. This free one-pager lists every ODHS APD 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.