My mother was allowed to move into a limited income apartment even though she was slightly over the income level. We need to close her small pension to stay within guidelines so she doesn't get kicked out! Is this something they can easily do or do I have to get an attorney?
It’s apparently referred to as Income Assignment Trusts as well as QIT and Miller.
Kkweaver - looks like Miller is only for Medicaid not for housing / HUD unfortunately.
Miller is actually called a Qualified Income Trust. The “qualified” must must must be present. Have no idea how that’s determined..... But SS is Qualified, federal civil service pensions / annuity’s are as well. Then after that kinda can be a crapshoot. What might be an option - and a couple on this site did it this way for LTC/NH Medicaid for a parent- is to have just the SS income go into the Miller and let the other income (that pension) continue to exist as regular income outside the Miller p. I don’t know if HUD or housing programs accepts Miller like Medicaid LTC eligibility does, so try to definitely find that out before you deep dive into legal paperwork needed for Miller.
If you could please post an update on what happens as we all learn from each other!
Consulting a specialist elder law lawyer may be really important though. If Medicaid is going to be involved at some point, be sure to get a lawyer with that experience. Pension law is a different speciality (which used to be called ERISA, not sure if it still is).