The Social Security Administration (SSA)  has provided attorneys and the general public with very useful information on their analysis of Special Needs Trusts – are you eligible or ineligible if you have such a trust.  There are a lot of ways that attorneys can inadvertently cause a Special Needs Trust to be found in violation of the many SSI resource rules.  While Special Needs Trusts are perfectly legal and will keep SSI benefits for disabled persons, simple drafting errors by attorneys can result in loss of SSI and Medicaid health insurance.

Fortunately, SSA is trying to help clients stay eligible by educating the public and attorneys.

Unfortunately, although the Regional Chief Counsel opinion letters, called "Precedents" in SSI-speak, are availabe as a category on the Internet in the POMS, they are poorly organized and not indexed.

The good news:  attached is a LENGTHY ANALSYS OF THE RCC OPINION LETTERS issued between 2006 through 2008, with a table that summarizes the issues and the holding, and an 18 page explanatory text of the "Top Ten Things Learned by Reviewing RCC Opinion Letters" and a 6 page chart, as well as the RCC opinion letters themselves.  The total package is 176 pages.