General trust information, not a legal or tax opinion. The trust instrument and applicable law control.
A trust designed to hold and administer assets for a person with a disability while addressing public-benefit and supplemental-support rules.
Read the governing terms
- Drafting, funding source, trustee discretion, repayment provisions, and benefit-program rules can change the result.
- First-party, third-party, and pooled trusts have different funding and repayment features and should not be treated as one product.
- Planning for a person with a disability should coordinate inherited assets, public benefits, housing, care, decision support, and trustee skills.
- The source of funds and the type of trust can affect repayment, distribution, tax, and eligibility rules.
- A trust separates the governing instrument from the assets it actually owns or receives; both pieces must be reviewed.
- Trustee authority comes from the trust terms and applicable law, not from the title 'trustee' alone.
Confirm funding and authority
- benefit notices, care plan, support contacts, and current resource limits
- trust documents, funding source, beneficiary forms, and letter of intent
- the complete trust, amendments, schedules, and certifications
- deeds, assignments, account titles, and beneficiary confirmations showing funding
Administration and exit questions
- Which benefits are means-tested and which are not?
- Should the trust be first-party, third-party, or pooled?
- Which assets are legally connected to the trust?
- What event activates a successor trustee's authority?
Risks to pause on
- A direct inheritance or unrestricted distribution can disrupt benefits and long-term support planning.
- Signing a trust without completing asset-specific funding steps can leave the intended property outside the plan.