Section 182-516-0001. Definitions.

"Annuitant" means a person or entity that receives the income from an annuity.

"Annuity" means a policy, certificate or contract that is an agreement between two parties in which one party pays a lump sum to the other, and the other party agrees to guarantee payment of a set amount of money over a set amount of time. The annuity may be purchased at one time or over a set period of time and may be bought individually or with a group. It may be revocable or irrevocable. The party guaranteeing payment can be an:

(1) Individual; or

(2) Insurer or similar body licensed and approved to do business in the jurisdiction in which the annuity is established.

"Beneficiary" means an individual(s) designated in the trust who benefits from the trust. The beneficiary can also be called the grantee. The beneficiary and the grantor may be the same person.

"Designated for medical expenses" means the trustee may use the trust to pay the medical expenses of the beneficiary. The amount of the trust that is designated for medical expenses is considered an available resource to the beneficiary. Payments are a third party resource.

"Disbursement" or "distribution" means any payment from the principal or proceeds of a trust, annuity, or life estate to the beneficiary or to someone on their behalf.

"Discretion of the trustee" means the trustee may decide what portion (up to the entire amount) of the principal of the trust will be made available to the beneficiary.

"Exculpatory clause" means there is some language in the trust that legally limits the authority of the trustee to distribute funds from a trust if the distribution would jeopardize eligibility for government programs including medicaid.

"For the sole benefit of" means that for a transfer to a spouse, blind or disabled child, or disabled individual, the transfer is arranged in such a way that no individual or entity except the spouse, blind or disabled child, or disabled individual can benefit from the assets transferred in any way, whether at the time of the transfer or at any time during the life of the primary beneficiary.

"Grantor" means an individual who uses his assets or funds to create a trust. The grantor may also be the beneficiary.

"Income beneficiary" means the person receiving the payments may only get the proceeds of the trust. The principal is not available for disbursements. If this term is used, the principal of the trust is an unavailable resource.

"Irrevocable" means the legal instrument cannot be changed or terminated in any way by anyone.

"Life estate" means an ownership interest in a property only during the lifetime of the person(s) owning the life estate. In some cases, the ownership interest lasts only until the occurrence of some specific event, such as remarriage of the life estate owner. A life estate owner may not have the legal title or deed to the property, but may have rights to possession, use, income and/or selling their life estate interest in the property.

"Principal" means the assets that make up the entity. The principal includes income earned on the principal that has not been distributed. The principal is also called the corpus.

"Proceeds" means the income earned on the principal. It is usually interest, dividends, or rent. When the proceeds are not distributed, they become part of the principal.

"Pooled trust" means a trust meeting all of the following conditions:

(1) It contains funds of more than one disabled individual, combined for investment and management purposes;

(2) It is for the sole benefit of disabled individuals (as determined by SSA criteria);

(3) It was created by the disabled individuals, their parents, grandparents, legal guardians, or by a court;

(4) It is managed by a nonprofit association with a separate account maintained for each beneficiary; and

(5) It contains a provision that upon the death of the individual, for any funds not retained by the trust, the state will receive all amounts remaining in the individual's separate account up to the total amount of medicaid paid on behalf of that individual.

"Revocable" means the legal instrument can be changed or terminated by the grantor, or by petitioning the court. A legal instrument that is called irrevocable, but that can be terminated if some action is taken, is revocable for the purposes of this section.

"Sole-benefit trust" means an irrevocable trust established for the sole-benefit of a spouse, blind or disabled child, or disabled individual. In a sole-benefit trust no one but the individual named in the trust receives benefit from the trust in any way either at the time the trust is established or at any time during the life of the primary beneficiary. A sole-benefit trust may allow for reasonable costs to trustees for management of the trust and reasonable costs for investment of trust funds.

"Special needs trust" means an irrevocable trust meeting all of the following conditions:

(1) It is for the sole benefit of a disabled individual (as determined by SSA criteria) under sixty-five years old;

(2) It was created by the individual's parent, grandparent, legal guardian, or by a court; and

(3) It contains a provision that upon the death of the individual, the state will receive the amounts remaining in the trust up to the total amount of medicaid paid on behalf of the individual.

"Testamentary trust" means a trust created by a will from the estate of a deceased person. The trust is paid out according to the will.

"Trust" means property (such as a home, cash, stocks, or other assets) is transferred to a trustee for the benefit of the grantor or another party. The department includes in this definition any other legal instrument similar to a trust. For annuities, refer to WAC 388-561-0200.

"Trustee" means an individual, bank, insurance company or any other entity that manages and administers the trust for the beneficiary.

"Undue hardship" means the client would be unable to meet shelter, food, clothing, and health care needs if the department applied the transfer of assets penalty.

[WSR 13-01-017, recodified as § 182-516-0001, filed 12/7/12, effective 1/1/13. Statutory Authority: RCW 74.04.050, 74.04.057, 74.08.090, and 74.09.575. WSR 03-06-048, § 388-561-0001, filed 2/28/03, effective 4/1/03. Statutory Authority: RCW 74.04.050, 74.08.090, and 74.09.500. WSR 01-06-043, § 388-561-0001, filed 3/5/01, effective 5/1/01.]

WSR 13-01-017, recodified as § 182-516-0001, filed 12/7/12, effective 1/1/13. Statutory Authority: RCW 74.04.050, 74.04.057, 74.08.090, and 74.09.575. WSR 03-06-048, § 388-561-0001, filed 2/28/03, effective 4/1/03. Statutory Authority: RCW 74.04.050, 74.08.090, and 74.09.500. WSR 01-06-043, § 388-561-0001, filed 3/5/01, effective 5/1/01.

Rules

388-561-0200,