CSS Profile and special needs trusts

blossom
Tue, 06 Dec 2016 18:04:58 +0000

Belknap- one tiny correction to your otherwise fine post- it takes LESS than 5 minutes to get the tax ID. Just did it to help out a friend who is executor for a parent’s estate and is a fine person and very well organized but not especially tax savvy.

I don’t think this sounds fishy at all- these financial vehicles are very common in families which have this circumstance. Just get moving and move out the assets.

Mom- I think this is different from re-titling assets to a grandparent as you describe. In your example, the assets get parked. In this instance, the assets are going to be spent (and typically spent down to zero) to support a disabled family member who will likely leave an estate of close to nothing. The funds are there to augment social security and/or disability, not to provide a corpus for distribution to heirs.

I don’t know anyone who has set up a special needs trust for fraudulent purposes (and I can’t imagine a lawyer would participate in such fraud). The beneficiaries are typically adults with Down Syndrome and the like who cannot live independently-- family members create these vehicles to make sure that after the parents or other relatives die, there is still some financial support to pay for group housing or similar.