The Listen to Lawrence Letter: Who can be the trustee of a Special Needs Trust?

January 20, 2025
January 16, 2025 • Volume 6 Issue 314
A follow-up question on who can be a trustee of a Special Needs Trust…read on:

CLIENT QUESTION:

I think you may need to expand on the response you gave in the January 14th, Volume 6, Issue 313, Listen to Lawrence Letter. When you say the beneficiary cannot be the trustee, you are referring to the disabled person. However, in the case where the disabled person passes away, aren’t there other beneficiaries listed, and can’t one of those be a trustee?

MY RESPONSE:

You are correct to point this out.  As a New York special needs attorney, I get this question a lot. The disabled beneficiary cannot be the trustee of their own SNT….but the beneficiaries upon the death of the disabled beneficiary (issue or siblings usually) can absolutely be the trustee. More often than not, one or more of the siblings (who would inherit after their disabled sibling passes) would be the trustee for their disabled sibling.

I hope this helps.

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