Page 4

5. If the trust is terminated for any reason, including death of the disabled individual, the State Medicaid Program will receive all amounts remaining in the trust up to the total amount of medical assistance paid on behalf of the individual during his or her lifetime.

Income of a pooled trust is not counted as income to the disabled individual (trust beneficiary) unless actually distributed as a direct payment to the beneficiary or his/her agent or vendor payments for food or shelter (see MA 500, “In-kind Income).

BURIAL TRUSTS:

A trust established to set aside funds to pay burial expenses for the individual or someone else (normally a spouse or a family member). Burial trusts under this provision are not the same as funds held in trust by a funeral home in conjunction with a prepaid funeral agreement/burial contract.

Regardless of value, irrevocable burial trusts are excluded resources when determining Medicaid eligibility, unless the individual also obtains an irrevocable funeral agreement.

Revocable burial trusts with a value exceeding $1500 are countable resources when determining Medicaid eligibility if created on or after 8/11/93. Revocable burial trusts created before 8/11/93 are evaluated according to MQT provisions. The total value of a revocable burial trust and any other revocable burial account/contract cannot exceed $1500 equity per person. If the combined values exceed $1500, the burial trust and account/contract are countable in full. See CMA 402-1 for more information on burial accounts/contracts. Creation of an irrevocable burial trust up to $5,000 is not considered an uncompensated asset transfer. If an irrevocable burial trust is created with more than $5,000 (or augmented with additional funds to increase the value above $5,000 at any time after creation), the trust principal will continue to be considered an excluded resource, but the creation of or addition to a trust will be evaluated as an uncompensated asset transfer according to provisions in CMA 404-1 and 404-2. The uncompensated asset transfer policy is applied to the full trust value when initially funded with more than $5,000, and to the full amount added to an existing trust to increase the burial trust’s value to more than $5,000.

Effective Date: June 01, 2022