Medicaid: Corpus of Irrevocable Trust Countable

Corpus of Irrevocable Trust was Countable Resource. Two trusts Petitioner created in 2000 held a cumulative balance of approximately $64,000. Petitioner was settlor and a co-trustee of each trust. On April 21, 2008, Petitioner filed an application for nursing home Medicaid. DFCS determined that the trusts were available resources causing Petition to be ineligible for Medicaid. At a hearing on July 16, 2008, Petitioner emphasised that no assets were transferred into either trust within the prior five years and no income was distributed from the trust since Petitioner was admitted to the nursing home. Applying the any circumstances test, the ALJ reviewed the trust language as follows: “Article I, Paragraph (a) of the two trusts states that if Petitioner (Settlor) enters a long-term care facility, such as Summerhill, then the Trustee cannot distribute any principal to Petitioner. Article I, Paragraph (c) states that if Petitioner enters a nursing home for which payments could be made under Medicaid, then Petitioner’s right to principal and income from both trust shall lapse.” Noting that Petitioner could have chosen a nursing facility that does not accept Medicaid, the ALJ found that the trust failed the “any circumstances” test at 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(2)(B) and Section 2337 of the Georgia ABD Manual, and affirmed the decision below.

OSAH-Houston-Woodard-8-2008.pdf (August 18, 2008).