Updated August 25, 2026. Quick answer: They are not two routes to the same service. The Certified Medicaid Planner credential costs its holder a $450 application fee and can be earned with four years of relevant experience and no degree – and its own governing board publishes that its non-attorney certificants should not give Medicaid planning advice in Florida, Ohio or New Jersey, and that the board does not advocate charging for that advice anywhere.
What the credential body publishes about itself
This is not an outside critique. It is the Certified Medicaid Planner Governing Board’s own published position, read on the date above.
On charging for advice: “As a rule, the CMP™ Board DOES NOT advocate that non-attorneys charge a fee for Medicaid Planning advice.”
On what the designation confers: “The holding of a CMP™ designation does not give a Certificant license to exceed the state rules or perform functions exclusively reserved to licensed professionals from a different profession.”
And on Texas, the board states: “And the state of Texas has a rule which prohibits non-attorneys from charging fees for assisting with the Medicaid eligibility process.” We quote that as the board’s statement. The underlying Texas provision could not be read this session and is not asserted here as law.
What the credential requires, and what it costs
The board publishes four qualifying pathways. The one that requires no formal education is stated as: “Four years of full-time experience in one or more of the Medicaid planning fields, including law, finance, and social work/geriatric care management, within the previous six years.” A juris doctorate satisfies the education requirement automatically, which means an attorney can hold the credential too – and the board encourages exactly that.
The application fee is published on the board’s own payment page at $450.
Set that beside the other side of the comparison. A licence to practise law is a three-year degree, a bar examination, a character and fitness review, mandatory continuing education, a client trust-account regime and a disciplinary body with the power to disbar. The two things are not the same kind of object, and the price difference is downstream of that.
Tennessee answered the credential question directly
The clearest statement on whether any certification substitutes for a licence was written by a state attorney general in 2007, in answer to a question that named four such designations: “Expertise or certification is not a requirement of the federal regulations that govern the answer to Question One nor can expertise or certification other than a license to practice law exempt persons from the prohibition against the unauthorized practice of law.”
Florida went further and made the marketing itself a problem: “to the extent that a nonlawyer advertises that he or she is a Medicaid expert or specialist or in such fashion as to induce reliance on the nonlawyer to assist the individual with their Medicaid planning, the nonlawyer is engaged in the unlicensed practice of law”.
Read those two together and the comparison people want to make – which credential is better value – is the wrong question in at least four states. The question is which tasks the person in front of you is allowed to do. We set out that line here.
The comparison that can actually be made
| Certified Medicaid Planner | Elder law attorney | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A private certification | A state licence to practise law |
| Entry without a degree | Yes — four years of full-time experience in a Medicaid planning field | No |
| Published cost to the holder | $450 application fee | Law degree, bar examination, character and fitness review |
| Discipline | The certifying board’s own policy | State disciplinary authority, up to disbarment |
| What the issuing body says about charging for advice | Its board does not advocate that non-attorneys charge a fee for Medicaid planning advice, and tells non-attorney certificants not to give that advice in Florida, Ohio or New Jersey | Charging for legal advice is what a licence permits |
The left column is drawn from the certifying board’s own public pages, read on August 25, 2026.
One row of that table is the one to keep: the credential’s own board tells its non-attorney holders not to give Medicaid planning advice in three named states, and not to charge for it anywhere. Nothing in this page is a harsher judgment than the board’s own.
Before you hire either
Ask which one you are talking to, and verify it independently – the state bar for a lawyer, the board’s own verification page for a certificant.
Ask what happens if the plan needs a trust, a deed or a personal service contract. In Florida that answer decides whether the person can lawfully do the work at all.
Ask for the fee in writing, with the scope, before anything is drafted. Our census of who publishes a price is here.
And get the state agency’s free application help either way. Under 42 C.F.R. § 435.908(a) it is owed to you regardless of who else you hire.
The money side is a separate question from the legal one
A financial adviser is not an elder law attorney and does not handle Medicaid filings, but where there are savings, a home or retirement accounts in the picture it can be worth having the financial side priced while the legal work is still being scoped.
Before you start, what actually happens. The form is run by Kapitalwise, our advisor-matching partner. Kapitalwise sends your details to advisers who pay for the introduction, so expect calls and texts. Clear Money Guide is paid when you submit the form, whether or not you ever hire anyone. This is free to you and there is no obligation to hire anyone.
The Kapitalwise form opens here. You stay on this page.
What happens when you press the button
It asks about nine questions (age, investable assets, location), then your name, email and phone number, and verifies the phone by text. Nothing loads and nothing reaches Kapitalwise until you press the button. Submitting the form does not guarantee an adviser or a match. This matching form is not tax or legal advice.
What this page does not settle
Scope: the Certified Medicaid Planner Governing Board’s own public pages, one state attorney general opinion and one state supreme court opinion, all read on the date above. This is not an audit of any certificant’s work and says nothing about the quality of the training. Attorney elder-law certification was not read from a primary source and is deliberately not described.
This page reports what the CMP Governing Board publishes about itself. It is not an audit of any certificant’s work, and it says nothing about whether the training is good.
The board’s statement about Texas is quoted as the board’s statement. The underlying Texas provision could not be read this session and is not asserted here as law.
Elder law certification for attorneys – the CELA route – was not read from a primary source this session and is deliberately not described.
Sources
- Certified Medicaid Planner Governing Board, Application Fee (read 2026-08-24) — https://cmpboard.org/application-fee/
- Certified Medicaid Planner Governing Board, Candidate Qualifications (read 2026-08-24) — https://cmpboard.org/cmp-candidate-qualifications/
- Certified Medicaid Planner Governing Board, Position on the Unauthorized Practice of Law (read 2026-08-24) — https://cmpboard.org/upl/
- Tenn. Att’y Gen. Op. No. 07-166 (Dec. 18, 2007) — https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/ops/2007/op07-166.pdf
- The Florida Bar re: Advisory Opinion – Medicaid Planning Activities by Nonlawyers, 183 So. 3d 276 (Fla. 2015) — https://cases.justia.com/florida/supreme-court/2015-sc14-211.pdf
Related: Non-Attorney Medicaid Planners · Elder Law Attorney Cost for Medicaid Planning · what a trust costs when a lawyer drafts it · the other paid-helper credential.
General information drawn from the primary statutes, regulations, court opinions and published fee schedules named above, not legal, tax or financial advice. Fees change and the figures here are what each publisher stated on the date above; check the source before relying on it.
The credential question and the timing question are separate. Waiting until a parent is already in a nursing home changes what the work is and what it costs, which is set out in what crisis planning runs.
The state-by-state estate-recovery comparison covers all 51 jurisdictions as of September 3, 2026. The seven added that day: Medicaid estate recovery in Arkansas (probate estate only), Medicaid estate recovery in Colorado (probate estate only), Medicaid estate recovery in Connecticut (probate estate only), Medicaid estate recovery in Delaware (probate estate only), Medicaid estate recovery in Mississippi (probate estate only), Medicaid estate recovery in Virginia (expanded estate) and Medicaid estate recovery in West Virginia (probate estate only).