Defining Supplemental Needs Trusts
How are Supplemental Needs Trusts Defined?
What items and expenses can be distributed?
Distributions ‘Supplement’ but do not Replace Assistance.
Distributions from a Supplemental Needs Trust cannot be made on behalf of the Beneficiary if the effect of such distribution is to replace, or to disqualify a Beneficiary from receiving Government Assistance. The Trust asset is available only to the Beneficiary as […]
TRUSTS FOR DISABLED MINORS
You know the Uniform Gift to Minors Act (MGLA Ch. 201A) was created in order that a gift to a minor can be titled in the minor’s name by using a custodian without the need of a trust. You know how to request the court to approve a settlement for a minor by using that statute. When the minor […]
Does MassHealth Lifetime Lien End on Recipient’s Death?
Federal Medicaid law allows states to place a lien on real estate that is not sold during the Medicaid application process.
The state Medicaid agency has the right to recoup what it spent on the Medicair recipient if the real estate is sold during the Medicaid recipient’s lifetime, and that is the point of the lien.
Divorce and The Disabled
This letter will be of great help to you if you mediate divorce and other family law matters. I have been preparing Supplemental Needs Trusts for many years for the Personal Injury Bar.
Recently, I was retained to assist an attorney handling a divorce for a client who is disabled. Without a Supplemental Needs Trust, the sale of the marital […]
BRIEF GUIDE TO SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST
How can a Special Needs Trust assist my client who has a disability? A Special Needs Trust (SNT) provides for the maintenance of an individual with disabilities by supplementing, rather than replacing, government benefits. It can be either self-settled Trust (their own money) or third-party (someone else’s money) for the individual with a disability, in order to pay for […]
Hospital Observation or Admission
WERE YOU “ADMITTED” TO THE HOSPITAL OR WERE THEY MERELY “OBSERVING YOU”
Everyone knows the rule (but they really don’t) that if you enter a nursing home after a three-day stay in a hospital, Medicare will pay the nursing home bill for a while. That is simply not the case. For the last few years, in a cost-cutting ruse, Medicare […]
WERE YOU “ADMITTED” TO THE HOSPITAL OR WERE THEY MERELY “OBSERVING YOU”
Everyone knows the rule (but they really don’t) that if you enter a nursing home after a three-day stay in a hospital, Medicare will pay the nursing home bill for a while. That is simply not the case. For the last few years, in a cost-cutting ruse, Medicare has been cajoling hospitals not to admit patients to the hospital, […]
What is a Special Needs Trust?
Planning for someone with special needs requires a myriad of factors to be taken into consideration in order to reach the best and most appropriate outcome. In the majority of cases, the client is doing so to either maintain a government benefit, typically SSI and /or MassHealth. (Not SSDI.) This article will explain Supplemental Needs Trusts (SNTs), as well […]
What to do with small tort awards
This article assumes a basic knowledge of both SSI and Medicaid for the disabled person. We also assume you have some knowledge of a Supplemental Needs Trust; if not, simply click here. (more…)
Odin Anderson & Other v. American International Group, Inc
Anderson v Aig Court s Findings and Conclusions April 2014