Spend down is a term that relates to Medicaid, so in the State of Florida, Medicaid allows somebody who is trying to get benefits to have a certain amount of assets. If they are married, their spouse, who we call the community spouse, is also entitled to a certain amount of assets. When an individual or the couple as a whole have too many assets, spend down is the term we use to mean well, we got to do something with the assets to get them to the asset limit in order to get them qualified.

Now what has to be spent down and how it needs to be spent down can be complex issues and it shouldn’t be something people do on their own. In order to spend down and get qualified for Medicaid and to do it so that you can maximize the protection of your assets, you really should see an elder law attorney.