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Naanker Asked October 2017

My parents had a trust titled in their name. Is my mother the owner if she is not listed as a beneficiary of the trust?

Myself and 2 sisters are the beneficiaries. My sister is the trustee. My father recently passed away. There is a Wells Fargo acct, in my dads name, worth $67,000 that belongs to the trust titled in both of my parents names. Is my mother owner if she is not listed as a beneficiary of the trust and if she is not the trustee. Would this money have to be counted for Medicaid?

rovana Oct 2017
Uh, freqflyer - I know of a similar situation. The thing is that it was done to keep Mom from spending the money carelessly and because she greatly favored one child. Dad wanted the rest of the kids to inherit something from his marital share - she got her marital share strings free and the income from his share of the marital funds. Worked better than it would have if she got to control the whole thing. The idea is that the parents don't divorce but in a sense split up the funds as if they were divorcing.

freqflyer Oct 2017
Naanker, I wonder what your Dad was thinking when he didn't include your Mom to benefit from the Trust. Usually husband and wives, all assets are transferred to each other, otherwise how will the remaining spouse live.

I think it would be best to talk to the Attorney who drew up the Trust to find out if Mom gets anything at all. Hopefully she does.  Now Mom needs to amend her Trust.  I highly recommend she uses an Elder Law Attorney as he/she would be very knowledgeable regarding Medicaid.

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