Medicaid Planning Trusts: What to Use, When, and Why
Letha Sgritta McDowell, CELA
December 3, 2025
Description:
Elder Law and special needs planning attorneys use different types of trusts for different purposes, based on each client’s situation – first-party and third-party trusts, d(4)(A) and d(4)(C) trusts, trusts to allow qualification for Veterans Benefits or Medicaid…the list goes on. And within each type of trust, different drafting decisions are made for various tax and non-tax reasons. In this webinar, Letha McDowell will discuss the different types of trusts unique to elder law and special needs planning and provide some guidance on which trust to use in various situations. In addition, specific trust provisions that can be included to reduce overall taxation and provide future asset protection for family members will also be covered. Join us for a primer on this important category of trust planning.
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Continuing Education Credits
InterActive Legal is not an approved Continuing Education (CE) Sponsor. However, several states and
regulatory agencies for a variety of professionals that participate on our teleconferences may still receive
continuing education credit for their participation. If a participant wishes to receive CE credit for their
participation in these teleconferences, they must apply to receive credit on their own and through their
individual states and regulatory authorities. It is the responsibility of the participant to file for CE
credit and is not guaranteed by the webinar sponsors.
Letha Sgritta McDowell, CELA
Letha Sgritta McDowell currently serves as InterActive Legal’s Director of Legal Strategy. Letha is an ACTEC Fellow and past president of NAELA, and practices law with The McDowell Law Group. She is licensed to practice in both North Carolina and Virginia and has been an elder law and special needs planning attorney for more than 15 Years. Letha is a Certified Elder Law Attorney, is Board Certified as a specialist in Elder Law by the North Carolina State Bar Board of Legal Specialization, and is accredited to prepare and prosecute claims with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
At InterActive Legal, Letha provides insight into how modern law firms run in order to assist in strategic decisions about how to maximize the tools provided by InterActive Legal, as well as what tools may be useful for practitioners in the future. In addition, Letha contributes to the elder law and special needs planning content in the software and to the InterActive Legal practice management and development tools.
Letha is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and the North Carolina Bar Association’s Elder Law and Estate Planning Sections, serves as Vice President of the Elder Law Specialization Committee for the North Carolina State Bar, and serves as an active mentor to a number of young attorneys through the North Carolina Chapter of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. She is a 2001 graduate of Purdue University and a 2004 graduate of the University of Maine School of Law.
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