A disabled man received Social Security Disability Income (Disabled Adult Child) based on his father's death.

For a person on Medicaid living in the community, New York State allows that person to keep for himself only a certain amount of income.  The remainder of the income, i.e., the "excess income", must be used by the disabled person to pay for services which Medicaid would pay for if the disabled person's income was below the monthly allowed amount of income.

In a 2004 case won by this office, the Court in reconciling two seemingly inconsistent provisions of the law, found that the disabled person could place the "excess income" in a Trust, rather than paying the provider of services to the mentally retarded person.

As an example, the money from the trust can be used to pay household expenses, which might allow the disabled person to remain in the community, rather than being institutionalized.

Due to the precedent setting nature of the case, the New York Law Journal, with a daily readership of 42,000, published an article concerning the decision on page 1, above the fold.

A reprint of this article may be obtained by contacting our office.