There are many facets of estate planning and too many questions here that are unanswered to give you the "perfect" response.  Basically if an Irrevocable Trust was created and it it were properly funded and managed for 5 years before she entered in to the nursing home they would be exempt from medicaid attachment.  But what your Mom actually did with the CD's and the instrument used to create the trust will need to be looked at by an attorney before you cash out anything.  Good luck.