September 2018

Establishing the Trust

Special Needs Trusts are an evolving creature of statute.  This process of Trust development has been fueled by court decisions, statutory changes, and the Social Security Administration’s own interpretation of its rules. The purpose of this multi-part article is to explain how the establishment and management of Special Needs Trusts has evolved over the past several years culminating with the Social Security Administration’s recently updated rules found in the Program Operations Manual System (“POMS”).  The updated POMS were issued on May 6, 2018 and became effective on July 1, 2018.  Simply put, the new rules bring into sharper focus the Social Security Administration’s attempt to become less hyper-technical and more reasonable in this formidable area of the law.

Click here to read the complete PART 1 of this series.