Special Needs Answers
Care Committees Help Trustees Make Decisions When They Don't Know It All
If you don't know one trustee who knows all there is to know about caring for a person with special needs, you may want to...
Read moreCan a Guardian Serve as a Trustee of a Special Needs Trust?
- March 11th, 2015
Q
Under the SSI, SSDI and Medicaid rules, is the guardian of a beneficiary with disabilities able to act as trustee of a third-party special needs trust?
A
In general, there is no express limitation on having a special needs trust beneficiary's guardian serve as trustee of a special needs trust. However, a trustee in this position has to be very careful not to co-mingle the trust assets with the beneficiary's own funds. While not expressly prohibited, we do not recommend that a beneficiary’s spouse serve as trustee of a special needs trust.