Special Needs Trust - Idaho

Idaho First-Party Special Needs Trust

Date: [DATE]

Beneficiary: [FULL NAME], born [DATE], of [ADDRESS]

Settlor establishing trust: [FULL NAME AND CAPACITY]

Initial trustee: [FULL NAME AND ADDRESS]

Trust name: [BENEFICIARY NAME] First-Party Special Needs Trust dated [DATE]

This instrument establishes an irrevocable trust for the Beneficiary using property belonging to the Beneficiary. It is intended to satisfy 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(A) and Idaho Admin. Code r. 16.03.05.872.01. It does not promise eligibility for any benefit; the responsible agency applies its current rules to the actual funding, administration, and distributions. Property is trust property only when effectively transferred by assignment, delivery, deed, retitling, or other required instrument.

1. Eligibility and establishment

The Beneficiary is under age 65 when this trust is established and has a disability within 42 U.S.C. § 1382c(a)(3). The property in Schedule A belongs to the Beneficiary. The Trustee shall keep the disability and ownership records with the trust records.

Establishing capacity: [PARENT / GRANDPARENT / LEGAL GUARDIAN / COURT / BENEFICIARY AFTER IDAHO MEDICAID REVIEW]. Federal § 1396p(d)(4)(A) includes the Beneficiary as a person who may establish the trust. Idaho's currently posted Rule 16.03.05.872.01(c) still lists only a parent, grandparent, legal guardian, or court. Before selecting the Beneficiary as Settlor, obtain an Idaho Medicaid eligibility review of this difference. Identify any guardianship or court authority relied upon: [ORDER / AUTHORITY OR NONE].

The Settlor irrevocably establishes the trust and transfers to the Trustee the Beneficiary's property effectively conveyed under Schedule A. Neither the Settlor nor Beneficiary may revoke this trust or demand its property. The Trustee accepts the trust and will hold the property solely for the Beneficiary during the Beneficiary's life, subject to the mandatory reimbursement at death.

2. Distributions during the Beneficiary's life

The Trustee may distribute income or principal, directly or by payment to a provider, for the Beneficiary's benefit. The Trustee shall consider the Beneficiary's needs, available public benefits, and the effect of each proposed payment on eligibility. No other person has a right to distributions during the Beneficiary's life. The Beneficiary has no power to compel a distribution or direct its amount or recipient.

The Trustee may pay for care, housing, education, transportation, therapy, equipment, recreation, and other items benefiting the Beneficiary when consistent with applicable benefits rules. The Trustee shall assess the treatment of cash, shelter, food, and other potentially countable payments before making them. The Trustee may make a payment that affects a benefit when doing so serves the Beneficiary after informed review; this trust does not make every such payment automatically prohibited. The Trustee shall keep receipts and records of the purpose and recipient of each payment.

Additions to this trust after the Beneficiary reaches age 65 require separate legal and eligibility review. Idaho's Rule 16.03.05.872.01(e) says additions or augmentations after that age are not exempt from trust treatment.

3. Reimbursement and remainder at death

At the Beneficiary's death, the Trustee shall determine Medicaid assistance paid on the Beneficiary's behalf and satisfy the reimbursement required by 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(A) and applicable Idaho law from property remaining in the trust, up to the amount of covered assistance. The Trustee shall seek amounts from Idaho and any other state whose Medicaid program paid assistance for the Beneficiary and resolve competing claims under applicable law before remainder distribution. This provision does not promise a particular priority among states.

After required reimbursement and lawful administration expenses, the Trustee shall distribute any remainder as follows:

The shares must total 100%. If all named recipients fail, the remainder passes to [FINAL RECIPIENT AND ADDRESS]. No recipient of the remainder has a right to payment before the Beneficiary's death and required reimbursement.

4. Trustees and administration

The Initial Trustee accepts by signing below. If the Trustee dies, resigns, cannot serve, or is removed, the next willing and able successor on this list serves upon written acceptance:

1. [FIRST SUCCESSOR NAME AND ADDRESS]
2. [SECOND SUCCESSOR NAME AND ADDRESS]

If no named successor can serve, an interested person may request a court appointment. A court may remove a Trustee on a ground in Idaho Code § 15-7-308. A resigning or replaced Trustee shall turn over property, accounts, and eligibility records to the successor.

The Trustee shall register an Idaho-administered trust when Idaho Code § 15-7-101 requires it, keep trust property and records identifiable, and provide information and accounts required by Idaho Code § 15-7-303. The Trustee shall notify current beneficiaries and, if possible, a representative of future interests of the court of registration and the Trustee's name and address in writing within 30 days of acceptance, as that section requires.

Subject to fiduciary duties, the Trustee may exercise powers under Idaho Code § 68-106, including investing, insuring, retaining, selling, employing advisers, paying taxes and expenses, settling claims, and distributing in kind. The Trustee shall invest and manage prudently under Idaho Code § 68-502 and allocate income and principal under Idaho Code § 68-10-103. The Trustee may receive reasonable compensation and reimbursement for proper administration costs and shall record them.

To the extent Idaho Code § 15-7-502 permits, a Beneficiary's interest before payment is restrained from voluntary or involuntary transfer. Because this trust contains the Beneficiary's own property, this clause does not erase any creditor rights preserved by § 15-7-502(4). The Trustee's personal liability and any allocation of liability to trust property remain governed by Idaho Code § 15-7-306; this instrument creates no blanket trust-assets-only cap.

5. Governing law

Idaho law governs administration while the trust's principal place of administration is Idaho, subject to applicable law if administration moves. A court with jurisdiction under Idaho Code § 15-7-201 may resolve internal trust matters. Any modification must preserve the federal reimbursement requirement and comply with applicable Idaho law and benefits rules. An unenforceable provision does not defeat the rest so far as the law permits.

6. Signatures

Settlor: ______________________________ Date: __________

Printed name and capacity: [NAME AND CAPACITY]

Initial Trustee: ________________________ Date: __________

Printed name: [NAME]

Schedule A — Beneficiary's initial property and transfer

Successor Trustee acceptance

I, [NAME], accept trusteeship of [TRUST NAME] dated [DATE] and receipt of the trust records, benefit records, and property inventory.

Successor Trustee: _____________________ Date: __________