You have a resident whose money is running out, a family who does not understand what is coming, and a Medicaid application nobody has time to do properly.

Send them to us. We can prepare and submit the application, and handle the process from there.

What we can take off your plate

• Preparing and filing the MO HealthNet application. Not coaching the family through it — doing it.
• Gathering the documentation. Five years of statements, deeds, titles, life insurance, burial arrangements, transfer explanations. This is the part that takes families months and generates most of the delay.
• Responding to the Family Support Division. Requests for information, adverse action notices, verification demands — those can come to us, and we answer them on deadline.

These services are available to families who engage our office. What is right for any particular family depends on their circumstances, and we say so when a family does not need us.

This is what our office does all day. Medicaid crisis planning and applications are the center of our practice, not a sideline, which is why other attorneys refer these cases to us rather than working them up themselves.

Why this is good for the facility, not just the family

A Medicaid application that is filed correctly the first time gets approved faster. That means:

• Shorter gaps between private-pay exhaustion and Medicaid coverage — the window where a facility is providing care with nothing coming in.
• Fewer denials and re-filings. Most denials we see are documentation problems, not eligibility problems.
• Fewer surprise transfer penalties. When a family has given away property and nobody caught it before filing, the penalty lands after admission — and the facility is the one carrying an unpayable balance.
• Less of your staff’s time. Business office managers and social workers did not take these jobs to chase down five years of bank statements.

And the family gets something too: in many cases a substantial share of what they have left can be protected legally, which tends to make them far easier to work with than a family who feels they are being drained with no explanation.

When to send a family our way

You will spot these long before the family does. Any of the following is worth a referral:

• A private-pay resident with more than about $40,000 in assets
• A married resident with a spouse still living at home — the protections here are much larger than families realize
• A family that owns a home, farm, or land they are talking about selling to pay the bill
• Anyone who says they gave property to a child, added a name to a deed, or “already took care of that”
• A resident whose Medicare days are running out and who has no plan for what comes next
• A family asking, in any form, “How long can we afford this?”
• A resident with no financial power of attorney — the earlier we know, the more can be done

The single most useful thing you can tell a family: it is not too late just because the resident is already admitted. Most people believe the opposite, and that belief costs them tens of thousands of dollars while they wait.

What this looks like in practice

Two illustrations of the kind of case we work, using the current Missouri figures. These are examples, not promises — every family’s numbers are different.

A single resident: “Mary”

Mary is 80, has dementia, and has entered a facility costing $6,500 a month. She has already sold her home. She has $150,000 in savings, standard personal property, a prepaid funeral, and $1,750 a month from Social Security.

Without planning, Mary spends down to Missouri’s $6,220.50 resource limit — roughly $143,800 over about two and a half years, because her income covers only part of the bill. In cases like hers we can typically protect about half of what she has: on the order of $75,000 preserved for her family instead of lost to the spend-down.

A married couple: “Ken and Judith”

Ken is 79 with Parkinson’s and has entered a facility costing $7,000 a month. Judith, 75, is still at home. Together they have a house, a car, standard personal property, prepaid funerals, and $250,000 in checking and savings. Ken receives $1,800 a month from Social Security; Judith receives $1,000.

Missouri’s Division of Assets lets Judith keep half the countable assets — $125,000 here — while Ken must spend his half down to $6,220.50. That is roughly $118,800 gone. With planning, couples in this position can typically keep all but about $25,000, which leaves Judith with something close to $225,000 and gets Ken qualified far sooner.

Judith also keeps a guaranteed monthly income floor, funded from Ken’s Social Security — a protection most spouses have never heard of.

These are illustrative scenarios based on typical outcomes in cases of this type, using Missouri figures current as of 2026. They are not a guarantee or prediction. Every case depends on its own facts, and results vary.

How referrals work

Give the family our number, or hand them the one-page summary below. That is the whole process.

There is no cost to the facility and no arrangement between us — attorneys in Missouri cannot pay for referrals, and we would not want to. What we want is for the family to get real answers early enough for those answers to matter.

If it is easier, have the family call and mention your facility so we know where they are, or call us yourself with a general question about a situation. We are glad to talk through whether a family is even a fit before anyone commits to anything.

The conversation we have with families

So you know what you are sending them into: we walk a family through what they actually own, what Missouri counts, what the spouse at home is entitled to keep, and what can and cannot be protected. If a family does not need us — the assets are small enough that the application is all they need — we tell them that.

Families can also start on their own with a short questionnaire before ever calling:

The 9-question assessment (about 90 seconds)

Talk to us directly

If you are a social worker, admissions director, business office manager, or discharge planner anywhere in Southeast Missouri, we would rather you have our number before you need it.

(573) 334-5125
Law Office of Mark McMullin
2007 Independence Street, Cape Girardeau, MO 63703

Useful to keep at the desk: our printable one-page family information sheet — something you can hand a family today — and the Medicaid application document checklist — printable, free, and something you can hand a family today.

We are not affiliated with any nursing facility. We represent families, not facilities — which is precisely why a family can trust the advice they get from us. This page is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Missouri Medicaid figures change several times a year.