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.”