The lawyer wants to put “excess income “ in pooled trust to qualify my mother for Medicaid. I looked at the budget & it doesn’t include accurate monthly expenses....so this would make income look higher...Lawyer filed application but is pushing for a pooled trust, which has a lot of confusion like monthly fees & deposit requirements...& mom would lose one month deposit...which has to be maintained at all times!! & they won’t pay first bills until 2 months pass!! So her bills would be late! I don’t know, but I feel that if I did this application myself, then I would have accurately included moms monthly expenses...which would eliminate the need for a pooled trust! I don’t feel comfortable with the whole thing ...when J applied for VA Aid & Attendance, I did it myself & was able to control the numbers/dollars that went into application...I put accurate numbers...which included caregiver expenses...which zeroed out all income. But lawyer didn’t include any of her monthly expenses ...then lawyer pushed for pooled trust which law firm has interest in...to me it’s lacking independence & is a Related Party transaction..anyone have experience with this?
https://www.specialneedsalliance.org/pooled-trust-directory/
Hopefully, there is a lawyer on this site who might tell you what your options are when you pay for legal advice and only get one option offered to you that the lawyer has a stake in. That's terrible.
Get a second opinion and if the lawyer bucks about it, that is a waving red flag. These guys forget, the paying customer is the BOSS.
Best of luck getting all of this sorted to your satisfaction.
Or you might find a pooled trust with better terms and fees than the one being offered to you.
The pooled trust will keep any money if your mom dies. That's how they work. The lawyer will also charge a fee for setting up the pooled trust, in my experience.
nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/pooled-special-needs-trusts.html
If it's NH medicaid, there's not going to be any money to pay bills.
It sounds like the lawyer thinks you're applying for NH.
Maybe get a second opinion? Pooled trusts themselves are very common and nothing to worry about. But not trusting your lawyer is a problem.
Hopefully someone will answer your question who has had the experience.
Is the attorney a certified elder attorney with experience in trusts and Medicaid? If so maybe you need to ask a few more questions and/or get a second opinion.