511-2 Assets Managed by Someone Other Than the Individual

Effective Date: March 1, 2019

The assets of a individual that are managed or controlled by a legal guardian, a conservator, a representative payee or some other responsible person acting for the individual, are available resources of the individual. This is true even if the individual does not live with the person managing his assets.

The individual does not have to have the physical or mental ability to access the assets; the assets still belong to the individual.
The assets do not belong to the person managing them because that person is obligated to hold and use the assets for the benefit of the individual. The person managing the assets is not to use the assets for their own benefit.
1. If you find a situation where the individual handling the individual's assets is using them for themselves, contact a medical Program Specialist for help. This may need to be referred to Adult Protective Services.
2. An individual in a fiduciary position with a business or organization (not the individual's self-employment business), who is obligated to use the funds only for approved transactions for the business or organization, does not own the funds.

Example: A manager, who is not the owner, of a local convenience store is a signer on the store's bank account. This allows the manager to make deposits and pay certain expenses of the business. It does not allow the manager to use the funds for their own benefit. The funds are not the individual's resource.

For financial accounts, when there is a formal arrangement such as a guardianship, the account name should show this relationship.
1. When the arrangement is informal (i.e., a family member is handling assets of an adult relative without having been appointed as a legal guardian), if the intent is that the person is to use the assets for the benefit of the individual, the assets belong to the individual; not the person managing them. If a financial account is only in the name of the person managing the account, but the individual's income goes into the account, clearly document the arrangement.
2. When the individual is managing an account as a guardian or payee for another person, the account needs to show the guardian or payee relationship. If it doesn't show that type of relationship, the account needs to be modified (511-3).
3. When the parent is the representative payee for income or benefits received for a child, such as SSI benefits, the funds held for the child are not counted as a resource to the parent if the funds are kept separate from assets of the parent. The account needs to show the representative payee relationship. The funds are counted as a resource to the child.
  1. If the account is simply a joint account with the parent and child, see 511-3. If there is a trust agreement and the parent is the trustee, refer to 512.
If the asset is a trust, follow the rules on trusts (512).

Contact a medical Program Specialist if you have question about the availability of the asset.