Trust Expenditures and Public Entitlements

The following is intended to help sort out the limits that are imposed on Trustees of Special Needs Trusts in order to maintain beneficiary eligibility for public benefits.

If a recipient is not on SSI, there are fewer restrictions on spending. Many trust beneficiaries receive Medicaid but not SSI.

Thanks to Sean Bleck of the law firm Isenhour and Bleck in Seattle for help with this chart.

	Violates Income Rules	Does Not Violate Income Rules
Supplemental Security Income SSI	Money given directly to beneficiary. Groceries Gas, electric, water bills Rent/Mortgage Property Taxes or Homeowner's insurance when beneficiary is owner Exception: food and rent/mortgage, etc. may be supplied if a 1/3 reduction in the SSI grant is accepted each month these are supplied.	Cable, phone clothing Travel expenses Personal care Maintenance of house owned by beneficiary Food for special occasions like restaurant meals or contributions to holiday feasts Specialized or adaptive equipment including special clothing
Medicaid	Money given directly to beneficiary. This is the only limitation imposed by Medicaid rules	Same as above, and also: Groceries Clothing Rent/Mortgage/Insurance/Taxes
Social Security (SSA) Social Security Disability (SSD, SSDI)	No Limitation
Medicare	No Limitation
General Assistance Unemployable (GAU)	Money given directly to beneficiary.	Payments to vendors for food, clothing shelter. Essentially no restrictions. Note, however, SSI back-payment provisions for GAU in Public Entitlements Overview. A GAU recipient who ultimately is found eligible for SSI and receives a back-payment will have the amounts paid for food, clothing and shelter computed and deducted from the SSI back-payment, to a maximum of the monthly SSI amount.