Estate of Arens
New York Surrogate Court
New York Law Journal 11/6/92, p. 26, col. 1 (1992)
- Written by Serena Lipski, JD
Facts
Sarah Arens had four children, including Rosemary Arens. Sarah’s will left her estate in equal shares to her four children, resulting in an inheritance of approximately $12,000 per child. The will contained no language referring to a trust whatsoever, and it contained only words of an outright bequest. Rosemary had an intellectual disability and resided in an intermediate-care facility, which was paid for by Medicaid. To be eligible for Medicaid, Rosemary could not have more than $3,050 in resources. To preserve Rosemary’s inheritance, Rosemary’s guardian filed a petition, seeking the court to construe Sarah’s will as having created a testamentary trust or a supplemental-needs trust. The guardian proposed the trusts would restrict distributions to income only, and the trustee would not have authority to make any distributions that would result in the denial of government benefits. In the alternative, to maintain Rosemary’s eligibility for Medicaid, the guardian requested authority to renounce the bequest.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Bloom, J.)
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