Special Needs Trust out of money?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s 400k. But wasn’t the trust investing it the whole time? Something is not right with this. I would file a complaint and have it investigated.

Absolutely. $2,700 monthly is a lot for a disabled person with most expenses covered. If it’s a 3rd party SNT the rules are clear. The money cannot be used for food, rent, gift cards, cash. If the trust pays for groceries it can mean he is no longer eligible for SNAP benefits. If the trust is used for rent that takes away from his housing allowance. These are reasons the trust was set up in the first place.

The trust is created for the extras he will never be able to afford. Vacations, activities, classes, video game equipments, things like that. The disabled person is allowed to keep a percentage of his social security benefits for miscellaneous expenses. These would include very small gifts for families members.

Does he have a guardian. Someone needs to investigate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Medicaid can have premiums and copays. And he might be seeing providers that don't take Medicaid. Other expenses might be transit, furniture, household items, and other utilities.

Still, this seems like an awful lot of money to be gone. What did your uncle think would happen when it ran out?

I think you need to accept that the money is gone, and work out how your BIL is going to afford to live. You could try to sue your uncle but you might not get anything if the money is already spent.

Medicaid laws don’t allow doctors to take cash from Medicaid patients if they don’t accept Medicaid. What a scam that would create.

SNTs cannot pay for utilities. It is solely for the extras that enrich life for the disabled person who cannot pay for himself. It can pay for furniture which really doesn’t amount to much for a tiny apartment.

I would accept anything until I saw the receipts.

[Anonymous]

Above post I meant I would not accept anything until all expenditures have been reviewed.

[Anonymous]

It sounds like something is wrong here, but what are you really going to do? It sounds like you don’t have money to pursue this. Would uncle even have the money to pay back if he were guilty of fraud?

Is uncle the only person that has been actively caring for this person? Did everyone else basically ignore care until you heard the money was gone? Does uncle now plan to peace out and do nothing to help?

There are no good answers here.

[Anonymous]

What’s the plan going forward if the trust is gone? Who’s going to pay?

[Anonymous]

OP here. His quality of life was so shabby all these years, living in a bedbug, dirty apartment, never going on vacations, a few expensive instruments here and there. Uncle would probably not be able to repay anything but is supposedly taking over the cable bill, probably feels guilty. The trust verbiage allows gifts and reimbursement to caregivers that help him and accompany him for travel.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry this happened, OP. I have no insight, except to say that I hope the entire family can see their way to contributing something to your BIL's future expenses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s the plan going forward if the trust is gone? Who’s going to pay?

It sounds like social security and SNAP. That's going to be a miserable life

[Anonymous]

Sorry, OP, what a difficult situation. Doesn't seem like there are really any good answers, esp if uncle does not have assets and would not be able to repay in any event.

Does BIL have a case manager?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What’s the plan going forward if the trust is gone? Who’s going to pay?

The federal government, but it will not be a great quality of life.

I'm so sorry, OP.

Was there any oversight mechanism in place that could investigate?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. His quality of life was so shabby all these years, living in a bedbug, dirty apartment, never going on vacations, a few expensive instruments here and there. Uncle would probably not be able to repay anything but is supposedly taking over the cable bill, probably feels guilty. The trust verbiage allows gifts and reimbursement to caregivers that help him and accompany him for travel.

Why haven’t you done something years ago then? Why has your BIL lived in squalor when you believed there were several hundred thousand dollars available to support him?

[Anonymous]

Omg OP can up not do math ?

You are not getting a pay out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. His quality of life was so shabby all these years, living in a bedbug, dirty apartment, never going on vacations, a few expensive instruments here and there. Uncle would probably not be able to repay anything but is supposedly taking over the cable bill, probably feels guilty. The trust verbiage allows gifts and reimbursement to caregivers that help him and accompany him for travel.

Why haven’t you done something years ago then? Why has your BIL lived in squalor when you believed there were several hundred thousand dollars available to support him?

OP here. This was a surprise. He was 50 years old and it was supposed to last his lifetime, not be “all gone” a dozen years later. Assumed a modest $10,000 a year of expenses over 40 years. The uncle is not investment savvy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. His quality of life was so shabby all these years, living in a bedbug, dirty apartment, never going on vacations, a few expensive instruments here and there. Uncle would probably not be able to repay anything but is supposedly taking over the cable bill, probably feels guilty. The trust verbiage allows gifts and reimbursement to caregivers that help him and accompany him for travel.

Why haven’t you done something years ago then? Why has your BIL lived in squalor when you believed there were several hundred thousand dollars available to support him?

OP here. This was a surprise. He was 50 years old and it was supposed to last his lifetime, not be “all gone” a dozen years later. Assumed a modest $10,000 a year of expenses over 40 years. The uncle is not investment savvy.

You can't get blood out of a stone, as they say, but it's probably worth figuring out how to force an accounting and determine if there was an irregularity. And then see if there's a possibility of a judgement that could be enforced against the uncle's assets - especially things like the sale of a home or vehicles. But I have no idea procedurally how to do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. His quality of life was so shabby all these years, living in a bedbug, dirty apartment, never going on vacations, a few expensive instruments here and there. Uncle would probably not be able to repay anything but is supposedly taking over the cable bill, probably feels guilty. The trust verbiage allows gifts and reimbursement to caregivers that help him and accompany him for travel.

Why haven’t you done something years ago then? Why has your BIL lived in squalor when you believed there were several hundred thousand dollars available to support him?

OP here. This was a surprise. He was 50 years old and it was supposed to last his lifetime, not be “all gone” a dozen years later. Assumed a modest $10,000 a year of expenses over 40 years. The uncle is not investment savvy.

You can't get blood out of a stone, as they say, but it's probably worth figuring out how to force an accounting and determine if there was an irregularity. And then see if there's a possibility of a judgement that could be enforced against the uncle's assets - especially things like the sale of a home or vehicles. But I have no idea procedurally how to do that.

Op, this is so horrible. The uncle is at best incompetent and at worst fraudulent. I would try to get advice from a case manager or legal agency that helps disabled people.