MHL ARTICLE 81 - New York State Unified Court System

Matter of Hector S., 11/18/09 NYLJ, 33 (col. 3) (Surr. Ct. Bronx Cty. 2009) (Surr. Holzman)
Upon learning of funds in a Willowbrook class consumer's guardianship account, OMRDD sought,
pursuant to the Willowbrook decree, a declaration of incorrectly paid Medicaid, to have half of those
funds used to repay the debt to Medicaid and to have the other half placed into an SNT-like
arrangements for the consumer's benefit. The court approved the application.
Matter of the Estate of Abraham XX, 11 N.Y. 3d; 871 N.Y.S. 599 (2008)
Pursuant to federal and state law, the State holds a remainder interest in all amounts remaining in
the trust "up to an amount equal to the total medical assistance paid". The Court of Appeals in this
case interprets that phrase to mean that the State may recover the lifetime Medicaid benefits paid on
behalf of the recipient. The Court rejected the argument that the phrase means the state’s recovery
of only those payments made after the date of the trust's creation. The Court held this to be so even
though the payments made prior to the creation of the trust were properly made to a poor person
who was entitled to Medicaid and thus were properly paid and, but for the later creation of the SNT,
would not have been recoverable.
n. Calculation of NAMI
nd
Matter of Deanna W., 76 A.D.3d 1096; 908 N.Y.S. 2d 692 (2 Dept., 2010)
The Appellate Division, Second Department, held that the Supreme Court had erred in directing the
Department of Social Services to disregard guardianship expenses when calculating the IP’s net
available monthly income (NAMI) for the purpose of determining Medicaid eligibility, holding that
the agency’s interpretation of its own regulations, including Medicaid eligibility regulations, was
reasonable.
Matter of Jennings v. Commissioner, NYS Department of Social Services, 71 AD3d 98; 893
N.Y.S.2d 103 (2nd Dept, 2009)
Where the 85 year old settlor of an SNT for the benefit of her disabled son poured all of her recurring
pension and Social Security retirement income into the SNT for her son’s benefit, she was not render
ineligible for Medicaid to pay for her own care in a nursing home, but that income was held to be
appropriately considered as part of the calculation of her post-eligibility NAMI toward her own care.
This case has an excellent discussion of the relationship between Medicaid eligibility and the NAMI
as well as a thorough discussion concerning the history, legal basis and purpose of SNT’s.
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