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A special needs trust is a trust that can be set up to pass assets to someone who is disabled ( like a child or grandchild with mental or physical disabilities). This is a legal way to shield assets from Medicaid. It MUST be done by a lawyer.

It is important for this sort of trust to be set up properly so as not to disqualify the disabled person from receiving benefits to which they are entitled, like Medicaid.
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Peggym7777 Aug 2018
Thank you for the answer. My mom is 89 and has dementia and i went to an attorney and was told to put what her money in a special needs trusts and then to make sure her income never goes past $2000 a month, which it does not. Now the attorney has a woman working with him and she has started the application to get my mom on medical, medicaid. My mom needs a caretaker and by doing this she will be able to get one
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When my sister died she left an insurance policy for my disabled nephew. To be able to get him SSD at 18 I had to file for a Special Needs Trust. I hired a lawyer, I was allowed to pay for him out of nephews money, The lawyer filed the necessary paperwork with the court. Nephew and lawyer stood in front of a Judge. Judge Okd the trust. Its Irrevokable and I was made trustee. Only I can distribute the money. There are guidlines for spending. The two most important are that it can't be used for food or lodging. This trust will be in effect until his death when the beneficiary receives the balance of the trust. A SNT cannot be gotten for someone 65 and older.
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Really, I was under the impression that a SNT could not be done for anyone 65 or above. Its pretty much set up for Special Needs people.
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JoAnn, I’ll bet a case of Prosecco its going to be a Medicaid compliant “trust” that’s done but I’d bet it was described to Peggy & the family as a SNT as most folks have heard “special needs” so are understanding / accepting of it rather than go onto the eyes glaze over intricacies of medicaid regulation for trusts.
A medicaid compliant trust probably use the same format of a SNT but I’d bet more tied into actuarial tables (like the ones IRS has & also gets used to determine remainderman interest/% for life estates) for amount allowed to go into the trust and then trust has to have the state as the primary beneficiary of the trust. Probably limits the fees related to administration of the trust too. The big thing - to me -for family to understand about Medicaid compliant is the beneficiary stuff. So when they die, all the $$$ left in the trust at time of death goes to the state AND then the state is on its own sweet timetable to figure out if there’s anything left in the “trust” and payable to heirs e...v..e...n..t..u..a..l..l..y....

plus putting $ into a trust is an “eligible” transfer of assets under Medicaid rules. It’s not considered a “gifting” transfer.

Peggy your mom is 89 & imho, if she has 6 figures range of $ to put into the trust, and she’s going into a NH, then she’s not likely going to outlive the $. There’s only so many expenses legit to spend on if she’s in a NH type of facility. Now living in IL or in their home, yah theres stuff to legit spend down on. Understand that if state is beneficiary then you wait till state determines what the left over $ reimbursement will be and when to pay.

JoAnn, Like you, I was trustee in a traditional SNT, ours was for a cousin who had polio in 1950’s & his parents left significant sum for him via SNT. He was totally competent, it was physical disability so he could self direct his trust. & now his SNT totally defunded, yeah!
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