What Type of Trust is Used for a Disabled Adult in Order to Protect SSI Benefits?

Full question:

I'm am the personal rep for my fathers estate which requires me to set-up a trust for my surviving brother. My brother has downs syndrum and I am his legal guardian. The total amount of the trust will be _$3500.00 and I dont want to jepordize his SSI. Can you suggest a USLeagal for for setting this up?

• Category: Trusts
• Date: 04/07/2025
• State: Michigan

Answer:

Supplemental needs trusts (also known as "special needs" trusts) allow a disabled beneficiary to receive gifts, lawsuit settlements, or other funds and yet not lose her eligibility for certain government programs. Such trusts are drafted so that the funds will not be considered to belong to the beneficiary in determining her eligibility for public benefits. As their name implies, supplemental needs trusts are designed not to provide basic support, but instead to pay for comforts and luxuries that could not be paid for by public assistance funds. These trusts typically pay for things like education, recreation, counseling, and medical attention beyond the simple necessities of life. (However, the trustee can use trust funds for food, clothing and shelter, if the trust provides him with such discretion, if the trustee decides doing so is in the beneficiary's best interest despite a possible loss or reduction in public assistance.) This trust is most often a stand alone document, but it can form part of a Last Will and Testament.

Very often, supplemental needs trusts are created by a parent or other family member for a disabled child (even though the child may be an adult by the time the trust is created or funded). Such trusts also may be set up in a will as a way for an individual to leave assets to a disabled relative. In addition, the disabled individual can often create the trust himself, depending on the program for which he or she seeks benefits. These "self-settled" trusts are frequently established by individuals who become disabled as the result of an accident or medical malpractice and later receive the proceeds of a personal injury award or settlement.

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