§ 59-08-02 — Third-party special needs trusts under state law

1. A third-party special needs trust must provide for the living expenses and other needs
of an individual with a disability when publicly funded benefits are not sufficient to
provide adequately for those needs. A third-party special needs trust must limit
distributions in a manner and for purposes that supplement or complement publicly
funded benefits for an individual with a disability. A third-party special needs trust may
not have the effect of replacing, reducing, or substituting for publicly funded benefits
otherwise available to a beneficiary with a disability or rendering a beneficiary with a
disability ineligible for publicly funded benefits.
2. This section applies to any third-party special needs trust that complies with the
requirements of this chapter, regardless of the date on which the trust was created or
funded. Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, this chapter does not disqualify
any beneficiary of a third-party special needs trust from receiving publicly funded
benefits if the trust did not disqualify that individual under previous law.