62 Pa. Stat. § 1414

Current through Pa Acts 2024-53, 2024-56 through 2024-111

Section 1414 - Special needs trusts

(a) A special needs trust must be approved by a court of competent jurisdiction if required by rules of court.

(b) A special needs trust shall comply with all of the following:

(1) The beneficiary shall be an individual under the age of sixty-five who is disabled, as that term is defined in Title XVI of the Social Security Act (49 Stat. 620, 42 U.S.C. § 1381 et seq.).

(2) The beneficiary shall have special needs that will not be met without the trust.

(3) The trust shall provide:

(i) That all distributions from the trust must be for the sole benefit of the beneficiary.

(ii) That any expenditure from the trust must have a reasonable relationship to the needs of the beneficiary.

(iii) That, upon the death of the beneficiary or upon the earlier termination of the trust, the department and any other state that provided medical assistance to the beneficiary must be reimbursed from the funds remaining in the trust up to an amount equal to the total medical assistance paid on behalf of the beneficiary before any other claimant is paid: Provided, however, That in the case of an account in a pooled trust, the trust shall provide that no more than fifty percent of the amount remaining in the beneficiary's pooled trust account may be retained by the trust without any obligation to reimburse the department.

(4) The department, upon review of the trust, must determine that the trust conforms to the requirements of Title XIX of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. § 1396 et seq.), this section, any other State law and any regulations or statements of policy adopted by the department to implement this section.

(c) If at any time it appears that any of the requirements of subsection (b) are not satisfied or the trustee refuses without good cause to make payments from the trust for the special needs of the beneficiary and, provided that the department or any other public agency in this Commonwealth has a claim against trust property, the department or other public agency may petition the court for an order terminating the trust.

(d) Before the funding of a special needs trust, all liens and claims in favor of the department for repayment of cash and medical assistance shall first be satisfied.

(e) At the death of the beneficiary or upon earlier termination of the trust, the trustee shall notify and request a statement of claim from the department, addressed to the secretary.

(f) As used in this section, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings:

"Pooled trust" means a trust subject to the act of December 9, 2002 (P.L. 1379, No. 168), known as the "Pooled Trust Act."

"Special needs" means those items, products or services not covered by the medical assistance program, insurance or other third-party liability source for which a beneficiary of a special needs trust or his parents are personally liable and that can be provided to the beneficiary to increase the beneficiary's quality of life and to assist in and are related to the treatment of the beneficiary's disability. The term may include medical expenses, dental expenses, nursing and custodial care, psychiatric/psychological services, recreational therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, vocational therapy, durable medical needs, prosthetic devices, special rehabilitative services or equipment, disability-related training, education, transportation and travel expenses, dietary needs and supplements, related insurance and other goods and services specified by the department.

"Special needs trust" means a trust or an account in a pooled trust that is established in compliance with this section for a beneficiary who is an individual who is disabled, as such term is defined in Title XVI of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. § 1382c(a)(3) ), as amended, consists of assets of the individual and is established for the purpose or with the effect of establishing or maintaining the beneficiary's resource eligibility for medical assistance.

62 P.S. § 1414

1967, June 13, P.L. 31, No. 21, art. 14, § 1414, added 2005, July 7, P.L. 177, No. 42, § 9, imd. effective.