Trust enrollment

Step One: Counsel your client

• Beneficiary advocate:
  • We require the beneficiary to name a person to be their “beneficiary advocate” (BA) when enrolling in the Golden State Pooled Trust. In some cases, the beneficiary may be acting as his/her own beneficiary advocate.
  • The beneficiary advocate advises the trustee about disbursements and acts as the beneficiary’s representative.
• Spending plan:
  • The beneficiary will need a spending plan, which provides the trust with an understanding of specific distributions to be made based upon the amount in the trust, the number of years the trust assets will be needed, and the public benefits available to the beneficiary.
• When submitting disbursement requests please consider the following:
  • When practical, recurring bills should be paid in advance to limit check requests and avoid the potential costs associated with late fees.
  • Allowable low dollar repeat monthly bills may be paid up to a year in advance for the trust beneficiary’s convenience.
  • Most disbursements are approved and checks are mailed within five business days from date the request is received.
  • Some payments to third parties such as credit card companies may require the payment stub for the proper application of payment. If checks are returned for any reason, GSPT will mail the checks made payable to the third party directly to the trust beneficiary, or the advocate, who will then remit payment with the original required stub.
• Some disbursements may jeopardize public benefits:
  • Disbursements for food, gas, electricity, water, sewer, heating/fuel, garbage removal, real estate taxes, rent, or mortgage can jeopardize government benefits eligibility. If the beneficiary wishes the trust to pay for any of these items, he/she must be counseled as to the consequences.
• Disbursement Procedure Requirements:
  • In order for distributions to be made from the GSPT, the following procedures must be adhered to:
    • No funds can be made payable directly to the Trust Beneficiary.
    • All disbursements must be payable to a 3rd party.
    • All disbursements must be for the sole benefit of the Trust Beneficiary.
    • All disbursement requests must be submitted with adjoining copies of the applicable bill, invoice or receipt.
    • The Advocate must authorize all disbursement requests. If a Trust Beneficiary is his or her own Advocate, a successor Advocate must be designated in the Joinder Agreement.
• Other Information pertaining to disbursements:
  • For all disbursements from Individual Trust Account, a $25.00 amount minimum applies.
  • A maximum of five checks can be issued from an account per month with a $25.00 per check charge for any additional check request.
  • Any checks returned by a payee will be forwarded to the Trust Beneficiary and/ or Advocate to resubmit the payment to the vendor with an original bill.
  • A $50 per hour surcharge may be assessed to the beneficiary’s trust account if excessive research and staff time is required to process a request.
• Fund availability:
  • A one week waiting period from date of funding is required before disbursement requests can be submitted.
  • Upon confirmation of funding from True Link Financial Advisors, GSPT staff will send orientation information to the named beneficiary advocate. Referring attorneys will be copied on this letter.
• Initial and annual costs:
  • The initial and annual costs associated with the administration of the GSPT account can be found here.
• Authorization of attorney fees:
  • Remind the trust beneficiary that signing the Joinder Agreement authorizes the payment of your attorney fees for your services (the beneficiary advocate will not be required to authorize a disbursement request for the fees incurred to join the GSPT). Future fees will require a payment request form signed by the beneficiary advocate.
• Taxes
  • Pooled Special Needs Trust Individual Trust Accounts are treated as grantor trusts. A K-1 will not be provided for this type of trust.
  • Please instruct the Trust Beneficiary that he/she is required to report any income or dividends accrued from the trust on his or her annual tax return. The year-end statement from the trust’s Investment Adviser can be provided to the Trust Beneficiary’s tax accountant for this purpose. The trust can pay any tax liability.