Supplemental Needs Pooled Trusts benefit adults who are disabled. However, they are not appropriate for every disabled person.
General Eligibility Parameters:
1. A participant's disability must be judged as permanent as defined by Social Security. An individual with a temporary disability who will most likely recover with therapy is not a Trust candidate.
2. Participants may hold full or part-time jobs with limitations.
3. A Trust can be set up by a participant with his or her own money, or by relatives or friends.
4. Trust participants who receive government benefits, such as Medicaid and SSI, can maintain these benefits without alteration after joining a Trust.
Below are case examples of two individuals who would benefit from a CLC Trust.
Case Example Self-Settled Pooled Trust (PT2)
A twenty-three year-old young man became a paraplegic as a result of a serious spinal cord injury. Doctors judged his injuries to be permanent and irreversible. In a tort settlement, he was awarded a six-figure settlement.
After a negotiation with Medicaid, which had paid for his medical bills while he underwent treatment and therapy, it was decided to place his settlement into a CLC Self-Settled Pooled Trust (PT2), allowing the Trust to pay for his supplemental needs and permitting him to keep his medical and other entitlements.
Today the Trust pays for medical services not paid for by government programs, and pays for visits to his family in another state. Additionally, monies from his Trust pay for the vehicle modifications needed to allow him the freedom to drive, as well as insurance premiums for his car.
Case Example Third-Party Settled Pooled Trust (PT1)
An eighty-year-old mother wished to divide her estate equally between her three children. One of her daughters is developmentally disabled and currently resides in a group home. The mother's other children are living in different states and have family responsibilities including raising their own children.
The parent was well aware of the fact that her disabled daughter would not be able to rely on an agency or other family members to fund all of her needs and ensure her quality of life after the parent passed away.
Consequently, she set up a Third-Party Pooled Trust to provide for her disabled daughter's supplemental needs. The mother indicated that upon her daughter's passing any remaining funds would be inherited by her surviving siblings.
Knowing what made her daughter happy, the mother specified in Trust documents that the majority of funds should go towards extra clothing, enhanced recreation, and vacations. Most of all, however, the mother wanted her daughter to have money to purchase gardening items, since this was her daughter's passion. The daughter's government benefits, including Medicaid, are unaffected and remain in effect.