The Connecticut appellate court rules that a special needs trust is a countable asset in determining eligibility for optional state supplemental assistance benefits because such state-administered programs may adopt more stringent eligibility criteria than those that govern the federal SSI program. Parkhurst v. Wilson-Coker (Conn. App. Ct., No. AC 24117, May 11, 2004).
In 1997 Marjorie Parkhurst's mentally retarded son, Matthew John Squinobal, began receiving federal Supplemental Security Income benefits and optional state-funded supplemental assistance benefits, which together permit him to live in a residential group home. In 1998, Matthew was severely injured in an automobile accident and received $115,377.56 in settlement proceeds. In 2001, with the approval of the probate court, the proceeds were placed into a special needs trust with Mrs. Parkhurst as trustee.
The Department of Social Services notified Mrs. Parkhurst that as a result of the transfer of the settlement proceeds into the trust, it would discontinue optional state funded supplemental assistance payments for Matthew. The Department maintained that Matthew would be ineligible to receive such benefits for 19.23 years. When the trial court dismissed her appeal, Mrs. Parkhurst appealed again, principally arguing that the Department must follow comparable federal law in the absence of a federal regulation that expressly authorizes the state to enforce its own eligibility rules for state-administered programs.
The Appellate Court of Connecticut affirms the trial court, agreeing with the Department that federal regulatory silence means that federal law permits the state to establish more stringent eligibility requirements for optional state-funded and state-administered supplemental assistance than are permitted under federal law. Therefore, the trial court properly determined that the special needs trust is a countable asset in determining Matthew's continued eligibility for state supplemental assistance, the transfer of which creates an ineligibility period.
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