Wyoming Long-Term Care Planning

Last updated: August 21, 2026 Jurisdiction: Wyoming

Wyoming planning starts with an income-cap system

Wyoming’s institutional and CCW materials use income at or below 300% of the Federal Benefit Rate as the long-term-care standard. The Wyoming Department of Health lists a 2026 individual SSI standard of $994, so the 300% figure is $2,982 per month. Chapter 18 permits a valid income trust in defined circumstances and requires the Department to receive trust amounts remaining at death up to medical assistance paid. Above-cap income should therefore prompt a Wyoming-specific income-trust review, not an assumption that ordinary medical spending will solve the issue (Wyoming 2026 SSI table; Wyoming institutional eligibility; Wyoming income-trust rule).

The basic SSI resource standard is $2,000 for one person and $3,000 for a couple, while a married long-term-care case can invoke federal community-spouse protections. Wyoming statute protects the community spouse’s resources to the federal maximum; CMS lists the 2026 maximum CSRA as $162,660. The state’s home-equity statute begins with $500,000 and requires annual CPI-U adjustment, but this research did not locate a current agency-published 2026 adjusted figure, so verify it rather than assuming a federal maximum applies (SSA 2026 SSI standards; Wyoming spouse and home-equity statutes; CMS 2026 CSRA standards).

Transfers, deeds, and trusts need separate analysis

Wyoming applies a 60-month review to below-fair-market-value transfers by an institutionalized person or spouse. Its penalty calculation uses the average monthly private-pay nursing-facility cost on the application date; the located public materials do not publish a verified statewide 2026 divisor. The facts, fair value, timing, and requested care setting therefore need to be analyzed before a gift, bargain sale, or payment to a relative occurs (Wyoming transfer-penalty statute; Wyoming transfer presumption and hardship rule).

Wyoming’s TOD deed is especially unsuitable for a generic planning promise. The law requires the county clerk to furnish TOD-deed information to the Department of Health within 14 days and permits a Medicaid recovery lien on the property. A deed may avoid part of probate administration, but Wyoming’s recovery estate also reaches various nonprobate interests. A revocable trust, retained life estate, TOD deed, sale, and gift should be compared as separate legal transactions (Wyoming TOD-deed Medicaid notice and lien rule; Wyoming expanded recovery estate).

Plan for recovery as well as eligibility

Wyoming recovers qualifying Medicaid assistance from an expanded estate for assistance after age 55 or a qualifying institutional period. The Department must establish an undue-hardship waiver process; its brochure says requests are not reviewed until after the Medicaid client dies. A home that is excluded for current eligibility can still require a later title and recovery analysis, so “the home is exempt” is not a complete plan (Wyoming estate-recovery statute; Wyoming hardship and recovery brochure).

Wyoming’s Long-Term Care Partnership Program offers a separate advance-planning route. State law provides dollar-for-dollar Medicaid asset disregard for qualified Partnership-policy benefits, but the public materials located do not confirm whether qualifying policies are currently available for new sale from a carrier. Policy status should be confirmed in writing before it is treated as part of a Medicaid plan (Wyoming Long-Term Care Partnership Program Act; Wyoming DOI Partnership filing materials).

Wyoming planning checklist: identify the care setting; test the $2,982 income cap; review 60 months of transfers; verify the live home-equity figure; and obtain advice before a trust, deed, or gift (Wyoming Chapter 18).

For general principles, see Advance Medicaid Planning. A Wyoming elder-law attorney should apply current rules and documents before a transaction or application date is chosen.

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Wyoming planning starts with an income-cap system

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