Many people assume they can give up to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) gift tax exclusion limit (which is $19,000 per person in 2026) without any issues. While that is true for taxes, it is not true for Medicaid.
States require the community spouse to stay below a certain limit of countable assets (the Community Spouse Resource Allowance) during the initial eligibility phase. The community spouse, however, is not required to stay below the CSRA after eligibility has been determined, meaning you could give her money without negatively affecting her husband’s benefits.
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