F-6400, Revocable Trusts

Revision 09-4; Effective December 1, 2009

A legal review of the instrument, device or arrangement that establishes the trust is necessary. Contact with regional legal staff is based on regionally established procedures. Check with your supervisor for regionally established procedures. Send a copy of the documents to the regional attorney for review. See Appendix XVI, Documentation and Verification Guide.

The corpus is an available resource.

Example: On Aug. 11, 1993, the person transferred $50,000 into a revocable trust. Terms of the trust do not permit the trustee to pay any portion of the corpus to or for the benefit of the person, but the person can revoke the trust. Since the trust is revocable, the entire $50,000 corpus is a countable resource.

Payments from the corpus or income generated by the corpus, to or for the benefit of the person, excluding payments for medical/social services, are income.

Payments from the corpus or income generated by the corpus for any other purpose are a transfer of assets.

Examples:

  • A withdrawal from a trust account that is given to the person's brother is a transfer of assets.
  • A withdrawal from a trust account that is given to a spouse does not incur a transfer of assets penalty because interspousal transfers are permitted.

When the home is in an irrevocable or revocable trust ("Living Trust"), see Section F-3300, The Home as a Countable Resource.