Friends of Special Children President Anne Marie Stone, left, and Teresa Whitton, senior vice president and trust officer for Southeastern Trust, sign the paperwork to officially create the Friends of Special Children Pooled Trust.A new fund established by a local group will allow people in Tennessee with special needs who receive public benefits to keep those benefits, should they receive funds from a settlement or inheritance.
Such assistance could be Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income or Social Security Disability Insurance Program, said Angeline Fairchild, secretary and communications director for local nonprofit Friends of Special Children.
Prior to 1993, Fairchild explained, a person with special needs receiving government assistance could not place his or her own money into a special needs trust, and if that person received an inheritance, insurance settlement or back-payment from Social Security, he or she would lose eligibility for government benefits until those funds were spent. Federal laws have since changed, allowing funds to be placed into a nonprofit special needs trust, she said.
FOSC is partnering with Southeastern Trust, a division of Atlanta Capital Bank, which merged with FSG in October of last year, to establish a nonprofit special needs pooled trust fund. Southeastern has the extensive experience in the specialized niche of special needs clients required to navigate the complicated rules involved with eligibility requirements and receiving government benefits, according to Fairchild.
"We're really a hands-on group in the Chattanooga area, and we saw this as a way we could benefit our community," said North Chattanooga resident and FOSC President Anne Marie Stone, as to why the group's 25 members wanted to be involved with the project. "We'll be the overseer and bring a nonprofit attitude to the trust."
The Friends of Special Children Pooled Trust will be administered by FOSC. Southeastern Trust, which established a similar pooled trust in 2014 in Georgia - the Arc of Georgia Pooled Trust - will serve as the fund's trustee.
"We have clients all over the country, and we saw a need for that type of service in Tennessee, particularly east Tennessee," said Southeastern Trust Managing Director Bart Rolen, a resident of Signal Mountain.
Senior Vice President and Trust Officer Teresa Whitton, who heads Southeastern's special needs trust division, connected with Dana Perry at Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, which has a group of attorneys specializing in assisting clients with special needs, an area which requires additional qualifications, as it is important all accounting is done correctly to ensure there is no disruption in the client's benefits, Rolen said.
Whitton said she developed her passion for the special needs population after handling her first special needs trust about a decade ago.
"[I'm passionate about special needs clients because of] the things I've been able to help these families accomplish, from building a house to caring for their other children without special needs," she said. "All my special needs clients are like family."
In order to create the pooled trust, Southeastern Trust needed to partner with a nonprofit organization, and Whitton turned to Friends of Special Children, a local 501(c)(3) dedicated to improving the lives of children with special needs in the Chattanooga area since 2002.
Whitton said the trust will have a widespread impact for the special needs population in the area, not only by maintaining Social Security and health care benefits, but also by helping them help themselves.
She explained that if funds are placed in a trust monitored by a trustee, the beneficiary is less likely to spend them as quickly. For example, a trustee would encourage the beneficiary to opt for a $10,000 car as opposed to a $35,000 car, or to get a 40-inch TV instead of a 60-inch model.
"It helps all of us [as taxpayers] when government benefits are used for responsible, respectful reasons," said Whitton.
Stone said it has taken several years to establish, but the pooled trust is already serving at least one special needs individual.
"This has been a large focus for our group, and we'll continue to put the resources behind it and make sure we provide the level of service these folks need and expect," Rolen said.
For more information about the FOSC Pooled Trust, visit tnpooledtrust.org or call 668-3073. To learn more about Friends of Special Children, visit friendsofspecialchildren.org or call 421-0623.
Email Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com.