How Can a PLAN Special Needs Trust Work Before It’s Funded? What is a PAYG?
Parents, siblings and other close relatives seek out Proxy Parent Foundation (aka PLAN of California), because they want to create a Special Needs trust that is committed to sustain the same kind of caring personalized support they’ve been giving all along to a family member with severe and chronic mental health issues.
Joining Proxy Parent Foundation’s PLAN of California Master Pooled Trust can become part of a family’s estate plan. Once a family joins, their beneficiary’s Special Needs Trust can be funded at any time -- before or upon the family grantor’s passing. This streamlined process of joining the Master Pooled Trust includes a detailed assessment of the beneficiary’s unique needs and resources. The assessment is an evergreen document that can be adjusted over time as the beneficiary’s needs change. As the resources of their trust essentially decrease, they can be recalibrated to last as long as possible, ideally over the beneficiary’s lifetime.
Often, families who joined our Master Pooled Trust will need immediate assistance with their beneficiary’s care. In that case, Proxy Parent Foundation offers a Pay As You Go program (PAYG). PAYG can offer Proxy Parent Support Services before a trust is funded. Proxy Parent Support Specialists (aka PSS) are familiar with the care of individuals with a mental illness. They perform the same kind of care family members do – oversight of supplemental needs for food, clothing, medical treatment, and other needs, as well as help the beneficiary interact with the public mental healthcare system. PAYG is only available to families who have joined the Master Pooled Trust. Under the PAYG program, a grantor deposits funds that are calculated to last over a six-month period to Proxy Parent Foundation. The funds pay for the services of a Personal Support Specialist, as well as some limited supplemental expenses for the beneficiary.
Here is an example of how PAYG works: Alan (not his real name), whose parents live out of state, became involved in a series of negative living situations, refused to take prescribed medication, and was prone to go homeless after bouts of drug use. His parents contacted us, established a Special Needs Trust with us for Alan’s future needs, and funded a PAYG for the here and now. We paired a PSS with Alan. They established a positive rapport, but Alan still refused to take medication. Alan’s symptoms escalated to the point where his acting out was frightening and threatening to his neighbors, which led to a hospitalization. The family sought a conservatorship, and the PSS put them in touch with the necessary legal services. The court established the conservatorship and Alan was then placed in a locked facility. Still, it was a struggle to get Alan to take his medication. His compliance was erratic, despite the best efforts of the nursing staff. The PSS assured Alan he would continue to bring him cigarettes and other supplemental needs but only if Alan agreed to take an injectable form of his medication that he’d taken before and that had proven effective. Alan understood that this quid pro quo of “no meds, no cigarettes” was no bluff. Alan agreed to these terms and his doctor prescribed the injectable form of the medication. Today Alan is stable and living in a licensed, but unlocked setting, in the community where Alan’s PSS visits with him regularly and continues to act in Alan’s best interests in the same ways a caring parent would.
Please contact Proxy Parent Foundation for more information about its PAYG program.
* Nancy Nigrosh is a performance writer’s coach, consulting editor and instructor at UCLA Extension’s Writers’ Program, and serves as a judge for multiple competitions and a panelist at writing conferences.