Important Supreme Court Decision Regarding Personal Injury Lawsuits and Medicaid

Koldin Law Center E-Mail Newsletter
May 16, 2006

The United States Supreme Court has just issued a unanimous landmark decision in favor of personal injury victims who receive settlements from lawsuits.

In New York, prior to this Supreme Court decision, if a personal injury victim was on Medicaid, the government was entitled to be reimbursed for all expenses paid by Medicaid from the settlement even to the point of taking away the entire settlement and leaving the personal injury victim impoverished.

Under this new Supreme Court decision, Medicaid is only entitled to be reimbursed from the portion of the settlement that is specifically allocated for medical expenses. The remaining balance of the settlement, such as for “pain and suffering”, can be protected in a Supplemental Needs Trust for the personal injury victim. This type of trust can be used for disabled persons under the age of Sixty-Five (65).

A Supplemental Needs Trust provides for the settlement to be available to meet the needs of the disabled person while he or she can still receive full governmental benefits, including Medicaid. As long as the Trust complies with the strict statutory requirements, assets from the Trust can be used to provide for the well-being of the disabled person without disqualifying him/her from receiving governmental benefits.

There are also other situations where a Supplemental Needs Trust could be advisable. For example, parents of a disabled child of any age can leave that child’s inheritance in a Supplemental Needs Trust. A Supplemental Needs Trust can be established as part of the parents’ wills or as part of the beneficiary clause of the parents’ living trust. This would allow the child to have his/her needs met while still qualifying for governmental benefits.

The Koldin Law Center is available to meet with you and/or your personal injury attorney to prepare a Supplemental Needs Trust for you.

We Appreciate Your Referrals

We have been told by many clients who are in a crisis that they wish they had known about our firm much sooner. We are proud of the many families we have helped in times of crisis.

We are also proud of the many families we helped avoid financial crisis by doing estate planning in advance.

We all share the responsibility for making our family and friends aware of the planning options available to them.

Your referral to the Koldin Law Center could make a major difference in the lives of your family and friends if they are someday faced with a long term illness.

Remember that the Koldin Law Center offers many services for clients of all ages. Our services range from basic estate planning such as a simple will to complex estate planning including asset preservation planning.

There is no fee for the initial consultation.