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West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Chapter 5

West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Page 54 Chapter 5 Assets

5.5.46.A Trust 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. 5.5.46.B 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. 1. An individual has established a trust when his resources were used to form all or part of the corpus of the trust. 2. Any of the following persons established the trust for the individual by any vehicle other than by will: • Individual • Individual's spouse • A 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 • A person, including any court or administrative body, acting at the direction of, or upon the request, of the individual or the individual's spouse. 5.5.46.C Excluded Trusts In the following four trust situations, the trust is totally excluded. In addition, establishment of these trusts is not treated as an uncompensated transfer of resources, as defined in Chapter 24 and Section 5.7. For excluded trusts 1 and 2 below, the SSA definition of disability is used. Therefore, any person medically approved for or receiving SSI, based on disability, meets the definition, as well as persons who have been determined disabled by the Medical Review Team (MRT). If no