How can I keep my home in the family should I need to go to a nursing home?

No, you can't simply add someone to the deed to your property and protect it from Medicaid recovery claims. Under Georgia law, the property will still be subject to recovery claims if you ever receive benefits, even if it passes to the joint owner at your death automatically. In addition, if you do add someone to your deed, you may also prevent yourself from being able to get Medicaid benefits in a timely manner if you need them, you make a potentially large taxable gift for gift tax purposes and become subject to the requirement that you file a federal gift tax return to report the gift (you may not pay any actual tax, but you still have to report it), and you expose your property to potential creditor or divorce problems the new co-owner may have, either now or in the future. We generally do not recommend adding someone to your deed. Instead, you should find a good elder law attorney and consult the attorney regarding planning for your long term care. This should include a look at the chance that you might need Medicaid and a discussion of planning steps you can or should consider taking, along with looking at other potential ways to pay for your care that could be available to you.