The Voice is the email newsletter of The Special Needs Alliance. The author of this installment, John S. Kitchen, Esq., has written articles published past the National Higher of Probate Judges and the Inquiry Institute of America (RIA), and has drafted special needs trusts legislation enacted into police force in New Hampshire. John has given presentations concerning special needs trusts at national conferences of the National Guardianship Association, ARC, National Program Alliance and Special Needs Alliance, as well as at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. in a program sponsored past the National Inability Institute. John has a family member with disabilities, and he is a member of the Special Needs Brotherhood.

November 2009 - Vol. iii, Issue 8

Are clothing, household appurtenances, personal effects and automobiles counted when determining eligibility for benefits?

Closet with clothes on hangersBASICALLY NO. In 2005, the Social Security Administration (SSA) issued important regulations designed to simplify what avails are excluded when determining a person's eligibility for benefits. This SSA rule explained how income and resources would be treated under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) plan and clarified iii bug of concern for persons with disabilities, thereby offering important protections for people with disabilities:

First, clothing was eliminated from the definitions of income and in-kind support and maintenance. As a result, gifts of clothing by and large are not counted equally income when the SSA decides whether a person tin receive SSI benefits, or when the amount of such benefits is computed.

2nd, the resource-counting rules eliminated the dollar value limit for the exclusion of household goods and personal effects. Consequently, the SSA ignores the value of household appurtenances and personal effects when it decides whether a person can receive SSI benefits.

Third, the SSA now has a bright-line rule that excludes one automobile from countable resource, regardless of its value, if the vehicle is used for the individual's transportation or for that of a fellow member of the private'south household.

Tin a family member or special needs trust buy groceries or pay rent for a person with disabilities without it impacting eligibility?

BASICALLY NO. The SSI "food-and-shelter" standard is i of the most important federal regulations to recollect. If a family unit member purchases food or shelter for a person receiving Medicaid or SSI, this may cause a reduction in public benefits. To understand the SSI "food-and-shelter" standard, it is important to understand the specific definitions of the words "nutrient" and "shelter" nether SSI rules:

"Nutrient" is a straightforward concept, but under some circumstances the SSA does not consider nutrient to exist income. For case, food "provided during a medical solitude is non income," nor is nutrient provided in conjunction with a governmental program. Food provided during a temporary absenteeism of greater than 24 hours from home, such as on a trip, is non income. "Food which y'all or your spouse raise [is not income] if information technology is consumed by you lot or your household." Dog food, such as for a seeing-eye canis familiaris, is not considered income . There also is a $20 monthly general income cash exclusion and a quarterly $threescore irregular and infrequent cash exclusion that could utilize if a person or a special needs trust paid for a restaurant meal or other nutrient for a person with disabilities.

The SSA's definition of "shelter" includes non but room and rent, only other items as well, such as heating fuel, gas, electricity, water, sewerage, and garbage drove services. However, as with food, a room is not considered income in the form of shelter if provided during medical confinement, or during a temporary absence of greater than 24 hours from home.

A home owned by a person with disabilities or their special needs trust does non disqualify the individual from SSI benefits. Furthermore, purchases of some household goods are non considered shelter. More specifically, "piece of furniture, appliances, electronic equipment such as personal computers and televisions sets, carpets, cooking and eating utensils, and dishes" are permissible purchases. Likewise, "personal intendance items and educational or recreational items such as books or musical instruments" are permitted, as are "items required considering of an private'southward impairment." Other expenditures to keep an individual'south home in proficient repair, including "weatherization," "insulation, storm doors and windows" and "lawn mowing" are not considered shelter.

In add-on, some expenditures that ensure an private remains comfortable at home do not qualify as shelter. For example, "habitation energy assistance" is not counted equally shelter, and home energy assistance means "any assistance related to…heating or cooling a home, including portable heaters, fans and blankets." House cleaning and homemaker services, both of which may be essential for a person with a physical harm, too do not institute shelter.

The SSA similarly does non consider payment of phone bills to be shelter. SSA gives the post-obit instance: "Joshua Hall, an SSI recipient, is unable to pay his telephone neb so his sister pays the phone visitor with her own money. Neither the payment to the telephone visitor nor the telephone service really received is income because neither is food or shelter." Finally, personal effects are non counted when "normally worn or carried by the private" or "articles otherwise having an intimate relation to the private" including personal intendance items and sure express jewelry.

Knowing the exclusions from the definitions of nutrient and shelter enables loved ones and trustees to increase the quality of life for persons with disabilities while still protecting essential governmental benefits. Sometimes those exclusions are not obvious, or have specific qualifications — as is the example for homeowner'due south insurance, which is counted as part of the recipient's shelter merely when insurance is mandated past the mortgage holder.

Can a family unit member or special needs trust pay bills other than for food or shelter?

BASICALLY Yes. "Payment of your bills by someone else direct to the supplier is not income." This is perhaps the most important of the "rubber harbor" expenditure provisions in the federal regulations because this provision explicitly permits all payments made to vendors, if for appurtenances and services other than for food or shelter. This SSA regulation so provides some helpful examples to illustrate this important distribution dominion: "Examples: If your daughter uses her ain money to pay the grocer to provide you with nutrient, the payment itself is not your income because you did not receive it. Withal, because of your daughter's payment, the grocer provides y'all with food; the food is in-kind income to you lot. On the other hand if your brother pays a backyard service to mow your grass, the payment is not income to you considering the mowing cannot be used to meet your needs for nutrient or shelter. Therefore, information technology is non in-kind income…."

Nearly this Newsletter:

We hope y'all detect this newsletter useful and informative, only it is non the same as legal counsel. A gratuitous newsletter is ultimately worth everything information technology costs you; you rely on it at your own risk. Proficient legal advice includes a review of all of the facts of your situation, including many that may at commencement blush seem to you not to matter. The plan it generates is sensitive to your goals and wishes while taking into account a whole panoply of laws, rules and practices, many not published. That is what The Special Needs Brotherhood is all almost. Contact information for a member in your country may be obtained by calling toll-free (877) 572-8472, or by visiting the Special Needs Brotherhood online.