§ 634A.2 — Supplemental needs trust — requirements

Iowa § 634A.2

• Jurisdiction: Iowa
• Title XV: JUDICIAL BRANCH AND JUDICIAL PROCEDURES
• Ch. 634A: SUPPLEMENTAL NEEDS TRUSTS FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

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1. A supplemental needs trust established in compliance with this chapter is in keeping
with the public policy of this state and is enforceable.
2. A supplemental needs trust established under this chapter shall comply with all of the
following:
a. Shallbeestablishedasadiscretionarytrustforthepurposeofprovidingasupplemental
source for payment of expenses which include but are not limited to the reasonable living
expenses and basic needs of a person with a disability only if benefits from publicly funded
benefit programs are not sufficient to provide adequately for those expenses and needs.
b. Shall contain provisions which prohibit disbursements that would result in
replacement, reduction, or substitution for publicly funded benefits otherwise available to
the beneficiary or in rendering the beneficiary ineligible for publicly funded benefits. The
supplemental needs trust shall provide for distributions only in a manner and for purposes
that supplement or complement the benefits available under medical assistance, state
supplementary assistance, and other publicly funded benefit programs for persons with
disabilities.
3. For the purpose of establishing eligibility of a person as a beneficiary of a supplemental
needs trust, disability may be established conclusively by the written opinion of a licensed
professional who is qualified to diagnose the illness or condition, if confirmed by the written
opinion of a second licensed professional who is also qualified to diagnose the illness or
condition.
4. A supplemental needs trust is not enforceable if the trust beneficiary becomes a patient
or resident after sixty-four years of age in a state institution or nursing facility for six months
or more and, due to the beneficiary’s medical need for care in an institutional setting, there
is no reasonable expectation, as certified by the beneficiary’s attending physician, that
§634A.2, SUPPLEMENTAL NEEDS TRUSTS FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES 2
the beneficiary will be discharged from the facility. For the purposes of this subsection, a
beneficiary participating in a group residential program is not a patient or resident of a state
institution or nursing facility.
5. The trust income and assets of a supplemental needs trust are considered available to
the beneficiary for medical assistance or other public assistance program purposes to the
extent that income and assets are considered available in accordance with the methodology
applicable to a particular program.
6. A supplemental needs trust is not subject to administration in the Iowa district court
sitting in probate. A trustee of a supplemental needs trust has all powers and shall be subject
to all the duties and liabilities of a trustee as provided in the probate code, except the duty of
reporting to or obtaining approval of the court.
7. Notwithstanding the prohibition of the funding of a supplemental needs trust by the
beneficiary or the beneficiary’s spouse, a supplemental needs trust may be established with
the proceeds of back payments made by the United States social security administration
resulting from a judgment regarding the regulatory schemes for determination of the
disability of a child.
8. Any funds retained in a supplemental needs trust of a beneficiary who is also a
designated beneficiary as defined in section 12I.1 may be transferred to the Iowa ABLE
savings plan trust account of the designated beneficiary in accordance with this chapter and
chapter 12I.