Funds inside a properly structured special needs trust or supplemental needs trust are exempt when determining eligibility for SSI and Medicaid. But getting those funds inside the trust is sometimes problematic. In Harris v. Astrue, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 138866 (W.D. Va.), the Social Security Commissioner counted worker’s compensation payments as income even though they were being placed in a special needs trust. The reason for the Commissioner’s position was that the payment could not be irrevocably assigned to the trust. Therefore, it was income prior to the time it arrived in the trust. This decision was premised on the Commissioner’s interpretation of POMS SI 01120.200G, which the District Court sustained.
Naming a Special Needs Trust as Beneficiary of your IRA or Retirement Plan, The Voice, Vol. 8, Issue 5 (Special Needs Alliance 2014)
Considerations when Initiating or Settling a Personal Injury Action, The Voice, Volume 8, Issue 4 (Special Needs Alliance 2014)
Funding a Special Needs Trust with Life Insurance, The Voice, Volume 6, Issue 10 (Special Needs Alliance 2012)
Dear Grandma and Grandpa…, The Voice, Volume 4, Issue 17 (Special Needs Alliance 2010)
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