The most important questions that will need to be answered in order to create your trust are listed below. The more of this information you or your lawyer has on hand when one of you first contacts Community Trust, the faster and easier it will be to set up the trust:
1. Name and location of the person who is creating it (the “Settlor”).
(If a conservator is creating the trust, please be sure to read our Special Circumstances material about conservators.)
2. Information about the beneficiary, including:
- Name and address
- Social Security Number
- Age (and date of birth, if known)
- Information about the person’s disability—what kind, how long, current needs and supports, clinical prognosis, unresolved or untreated issues, etc.)
- Information about the person’s hopes for the future and expectations for the trust.
- Information about the person’s living situation and expected changes.
- Information about the person’s income and public benefits eligibility, including copies of annual benefit statements.
3. Information about responsible parties, including:
- Whether there is a guardian, conservator, Representative Payee.
- If the account will be created by someone acting under a Durable Power of Attorney, a copy of the Durable Power of Attorney must be reviewed before the account can be set up.
- Information about the family—who, how involved in the person’s life and care, expectations for the future.
4. Information about the assets, including:
- Up-to-date information from banks or other institutions that show the amount of assets to be transferred to the trust.
- If funding will come from a personal injury lawsuit, the net amount that the lawyer expects the beneficiary to receive.
- If funding will come from an estate, the amount that the estate administrator expects the beneficiary to receive.
- If real estate is to be conveyed (possible only for individual SNT’s; not possible for pooled trust), a copy of the deed.
- If annuities or life insurance is to be part of the trust, up-to-date information about the cash value.
5. Information about remaindermen, including the names, locations and relationships of those persons or entities.
(Remaindermen are those would receive any distribution when the beneficiary eventually passes away, after Medicaid and/or, if the trust was a pooled trust, the pooled trust program’s retained amount)
The above list is an “ideal” set of information, not a “minimum requirement.” Community Trust receives inquiries from potential beneficiaries with all of the above information, or with nothing more than a name and some idea of the person’s age. We encourage, however, as much advanced gathering of information as possible. Almost all of the information eventually will be needed, and the more we have at the outset, the quicker the process of creating the trust.