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West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Chapter 24
West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Page 45 Chapter 24 Long Term Care
24.8.2.B.3 Transfer to a Trust When the client or his spouse transfers resources to a trust that is excluded from consideration as an asset, no penalty is applied. This section applies to any trust established on or after August 11, 1993. For trusts prior to August 11, 1993, see Chapter 5, Appendix B. Generally, all trusts are counted as assets, regardless of their purpose, restrictions on distributions or on the trustee's discretion to distribute the funds, whether acted on or not. There are exceptions to this general rule, and trusts established by a will are treated differently from those not established by a will. In addition, sometimes revocable and irrevocable trusts are treated differently. Details are found below. If a trust is made up of the client's resources and those of one or more other persons, only the amount established with the client's resources is counted. For purposes of this item, the terms "individual" or "client" include: • The client; • His spouse; • Any person, including a court or administrative body, with legal authority to act in place of, or on behalf of, the individual or the individual's spouse; and, • Any person, including a court or administrative body, acting at the direction of, or upon the request of, the individual or the individual's spouse. ➢ Trusts Established by Will A trust is treated as an asset only to the extent that it is available to the client. Clauses included in a trust that limit the trustee's use of the funds (e.g., exculpatory clauses) are recognized and the amount of funds affected by such exculpatory clauses is excluded. Irrevocable trusts are excluded, regardless of the amount. There is no penalty for the placement of funds in an irrevocable trust. ➢ Trusts Not Established by Will When the following two conditions are met, the trust policy contained below in this item is applied. If the two conditions are not met, the fund is treated as any other bank account.