A Special Needs Trust, or Supplemental Needs Trust, is a specialized legal document designed to benefit an individual who has a disability. A supplemental needs trust is most often a standalone document, but it can form part of a Last Will and Testament.
A supplemental needs trust enables a person with a physical or mental disability, or an individual with a chronic or acquired illness, to have held in trust for his or her benefit an unlimited amount of assets. In a properly drafted supplemental needs trust, those assets are not considered countable assets for purposes of qualification for certain governmental benefits. A supplemental needs trust provides for supplemental and extra care over and above that which the government provides.
Supplemental needs trusts must be irrevocable. A properly drafted trust will include provisions for the trust termination or dissolution under certain circumstances, and will include explicit directions for amendment when necessary.
