AGGRESSIVE REPRESENTATION
At Chris Pritt Law, we provide quality legal services in a wide variety of practice areas. These include:
Divorce
Child Custody
Child Support
Paternity
Wills & Trusts
Adoptions
Medical Powers of Attorney
Qualified Domestic Relations Orders
Estate Disputes
Prenuptial Agreements
Durable Powers of Attorney
Property Deeds
“I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to you for all the care and concern you have shown me, and for working tirelessly to ensure that the law worked in our favor."
EM. G
Irrevocable Trust Attorney
Services
Some assets need extra protection
A single lawsuit, a creditor, or a nursing home bill can wipe out a lifetime of savings if your assets aren’t properly protected. An irrevocable trust ensures your assets stay completely protected. Once your assets are transferred in, they're no longer legally yours, which means creditors, lawsuits, and Medicaid can't reach them. It's one of the strongest protections available under West Virginia law, and it works precisely because of the permanence most people are initially hesitant about.
At Chris Pritt Law, our irrevocable trust attorney has spent 18 years helping Charleston and Kanawha County families use this tool to shield their assets and ensure their family smoothly inherits them.
What Makes an Irrevocable Trust Different
With an irrevocable trust, you give up your control over your assets—and in exchange, you get something another estate planning tool cannot provide: your assets are shielded from future creditors, lawsuits, and Medicaid recovery.
Under W. Va. Code § 44D-4-411, an irrevocable trust generally cannot be updated or revoked once created. The assets inside are no longer part of your recoverable estate—protected from claims against you and held for your beneficiaries.
Now, this isn't the right tool for everyone—but for families who need genuine asset protection, it's one of the most powerful options available. Our irrevocable trust attorney is here to help you create a legally compliant, practical structure that will support you and your family.
Who an Irrevocable Trust Makes Sense For
The most common mistake people make—especially with online templates—is creating a trust and never moving assets into it. An unfunded trust doesn't avoid probate. Here's how we do it right:
Families worried about long-term care costs. Nursing home care in West Virginia currently averages over $10,000 per month. Medicaid can help cover those costs—but to qualify, your countable assets must be below $2,000. Assets held in a properly structured irrevocable trust are generally excluded from that calculation, provided they were transferred more than five years before you apply. That five-year window is why starting early matters.
People with a home they want to protect. Your house in South Hills or Kanawha City may be your most valuable asset. Without a plan, it could be subject to Medicaid estate recovery after your death—meaning the state recoups what it spent on your care from your estate before your family sees anything. An irrevocable trust, set up well before you need care, takes the home out of that picture.
Anyone who wants to protect an inheritance from outside claims. Assets left to children outright can be lost to a divorce, a lawsuit, or a bankruptcy. An irrevocable trust distributes on terms you set, keeping what you worked for inside the family.
What You Give Up and Why It's Worth It
Once assets go into an irrevocable trust, you can't take them back. You give up direct ownership, and you can't change the terms the way you can with a revocable trust.
What you keep depends on how the trust is structured—in many cases, you can still live in your home and receive income from trust assets. You just can't pull assets back out.
For the right situation, that tradeoff is worth it. That's why the conversation with an irrevocable trust attorney matters before anything is signed.
FAQ: Irrevocable Trusts in Charleston, WV
Can I ever change an irrevocable trust once it's set up?
Generally no—that's what makes it irrevocable. Under W. Va. Code § 44D-4-411, modifications require either the consent of all beneficiaries or court approval. This is why the drafting process matters so much. You want to get it right before it's finalized.
How does the five-year look-back rule work in West Virginia?
West Virginia follows the federal 60-month Medicaid look-back period. Any assets transferred into a trust within five years of applying for Medicaid nursing home benefits are subject to scrutiny and may trigger a period of ineligibility. Assets transferred more than five years before your application are generally protected.
Does an irrevocable trust avoid probate in West Virginia?
Yes. Assets held in the trust at the time of your death pass directly to your beneficiaries without going through the Kanawha County probate process—the same benefit a revocable trust provides.
Is an irrevocable trust the same as a Medicaid Asset Protection Trust?
A Medicaid Asset Protection Trust (MAPT) is a specific type of irrevocable trust structured to meet Medicaid's rules. Not all irrevocable trusts qualify. Structure and timing both matter, which is another reason to work with an attorney rather than an online service.
The Chris Pritt Law Difference
We don't recommend an irrevocable trust to everyone. It's a significant, permanent decision—and our job is to make sure it's the right one for your family before we draft a single page.
We sit down with you, learn about your assets and goals, and give you a straight answer about whether an irrevocable trust makes sense. If something simpler does the job, we'll say so. If an irrevocable trust is the right move, we draft it to hold up under West Virginia law and accomplish exactly what you need it to.
After 18 years working with Charleston families, we know what it looks like when this is done right—and when it isn't.
Protecting Your Healthcare Decisions
Starts with One Conversation
Most people who put this off aren’t careless. They assume their family will know what to do. The trouble is
that when you can’t speak for yourself, the hospital doesn’t ask your family to work it out. Under West Virginia
law, your doctor or advanced nurse practitioner selects a surrogate from a list that starts with your spouse and
moves through adult children, parents, siblings, and grandchildren.
If your family sees things differently, they can end up arguing over your care at the worst possible time, and the
person you would have picked may not be the one in the room making the call.
A Medical Power of Attorney settles that question while you can still answer it. You name one person, you
write down what matters to you, and your family is spared from guessing. West Virginia’s law tells your agent
to act on your wishes, and that is far easier to do when those wishes are written down.
It takes one meeting to get started. Chris Pritt Law will walk you through choosing an agent, put your instructions in
writing, and make sure the document is signed and witnessed the way the law requires. With your permission, we also
submit it to the West Virginia e-Directive Registry. If you are working on a broader estate plan, we draft your medical
directives alongside your will, trust, and durable power of attorney so the documents agree.
1012 Kanawha Blvd E 5th Floor
Charleston, West Virginia, 25301
Phone: (304) 720‐4412
Email: [email protected]
OFFICE HOURS
Monday-Friday: 9:00am – 5:00pm
Saturday & Sunday: Closed
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