Changes Involving SSI
by
Herbert D. Hinkle, Esq. and Valerie A. Powers Smith, Esq.
Hinkle & Fingles, Attorneys at Law
2651 Main Street
Lawrenceville, New Jersey 08648
(609) 896-4200 or (215) 860-2100
Important changes went into effect in March 2005, affecting
eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (“SSI”).
To be eligible for SSI, applicants must meet an income and resource
test. “Clothing” has been eliminated from the definition of income.
This means that payments for clothing or in-kind gifts of clothing
will no longer be counted as income.
What is the practical effect of this change? SSI recipients living at
home with parents frequently have their benefits reduced by 1/3 (from
roughly $600 per month to $400 per month) because of in-kind
contributions by parents of food, clothing and shelter. Now that
clothing has been eliminated, more people should qualify for full
benefits.
The regulations also change the definition of a resource. An
automobile owned by an SSI recipient is no longer counted. Likewise,
personal possessions, regardless of value, are no longer counted.
Special needs trusts are still needed to hold assets which a parents
wants to leave someday to a disabled child. The rules do not change
the need for this, but they do make things a little easier for
applicants.
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Herbert D.
Hinkle, his partner, Ira M. Fingles, and their colleagues, S. Paul
Prior and Valerie A. Powers Smith, maintain a statewide
law practice with offices in Lawrenceville, Marlton, and Florham Park,
New Jersey, and Yardley, Pennsylvania. They lecture and write frequently
on topics of law, aging, disability and estate planning and are available
to speak to groups in New Jersey and Pennsylvania
at no charge.
Comments and suggestions
for future articles should be mailed to: Hinkle & Fingles, 2651 Main Street, Suite A, Lawrenceville, New Jersey 08648-1012.
Copyright 2005
Herbert D. Hinkle. All rights reserved.
