What Is a Supplemental Needs Trust?
By Barry Zimmer on May 27th, 2014 in Estate Planning, Special Needs Planning
There are many things to take into consideration when you are planning your estate. There is more to it than the proverbial slicing of the pie. You should consider each person on your inheritance list, because all of your heirs are unique individuals. The right way to provide for one person may not be right for the next.
With this in mind, let’s look at supplemental needs trusts.
Government Benefit Eligibility
If you are going to be providing for someone with a disability, you have to understand rules governing government benefit eligibility. Many people with disabilities are enrolled in the Medicaid program. Medicaid is a government health insurance program that is available to people who have very limited financial resources.
Medicaid can be absolutely essential for many people with disabilities. Depending on the disability, care and treatment, it could cost millions of dollars over the course of a lifetime.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is also relied upon by a significant percentage of people who have disabilities.
Once you gain eligibility for government benefits, the eligibility is not necessarily permanent. These are need-based programs. If you were to come into some money as someone who is eligible for government benefits, your eligibility could be lost.
As a result, you must take the right steps if you have someone with a disability on your inheritance list. If you have a Will that names this person as a direct inheritance recipient, his or her eligibility could be forfeited.
Supplemental Needs Trusts
A solution exists in the form of a supplemental needs trust. You fund the trust and you name the person with a disability as the beneficiary of the trust. You also name a trustee to administer the trust. This can be an individual, but it could also be a trust company or the trust department of a bank.
The Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income benefits will not pay for all of the needs of the beneficiary. The trustee may use assets that have been placed into the Supplemental Needs Trust to provide for these unmet needs. Because of the nature of these expenditures, benefit eligibility is not impacted.
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