Special Needs Trust

While the structured settlement has proven to be very effective in the resolution of many personal injury actions, there are an increasing number of situations in which this concept cannot address fully the problems faced by catastrophically injured persons.  Specifically, these situations involve individuals who are currently receiving certain types of federal aid which are then discontinued upon the receipt of cash settlement funds or even structured settlement payments.  Often such a case cannot be resolved because the discontinuation of government benefits places the plaintiff in a worse financial position.  (i.e., the foregone entitlements exceed the value of the settlement benefits).

Further complicating cases involving entitlement benefits are issues of liability or coverage which limit the defendant's settlement resources.  The following article identifies these problems and details the special needs trust solution.

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