Medicare Set-Asides, Pooled Trusts, and Public Benefits: A Practical Guide for Attorneys
Preserving Means-Tested Benefits Through Trust Planning and Settlement Strategies

Course Details
- smart_display Format
Live Online with Live Q&A
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
Intermediate
- work Practice Area
Estate Planning
- event Date
Wednesday, August 27, 2025
- schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- timer Program Length
90 minutes
-
This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
This CLE webinar will explore preserving client eligibility for means-tested government benefits following settlements or judgments. The strategic use of pooled special needs trusts (PSNTs), Medicare set-asides (MSAs), and structured settlements allows administrators to safeguard assets like Medicaid and SSI while complying with complex benefit regulations.
Faculty
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Ms. Baer, Esq. is Counsel and Director of New Client Services at Commonwealth Community Trust, a non-profit pooled trust administrator serving beneficiaries across the United States who are injured, vulnerable, or have special needs. Prior to joining CCT, Ms. Baer was a partner at Family First Law Group, PLLC, in Alexandria, Virginia, and her practice focused on estate planning, estate and trust administration, and guardianship and conservatorship. Prior to entering private practice, she served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Virginia Attorney General’s Health Services Section from 2010 to 2012, helping to advise several state agencies that provide services to persons with disabilities.

Mr. Tiefenback, Esq., is Counsel and Director of Client Services at Commonwealth Community Trust, a non-profit pooled trust administrator serving beneficiaries across the United States who are injured, vulnerable, or have special needs. Prior to joining CCT, Mr. Tiefenback was a trust and estate attorney at Sands Anderson PC and TrustBuilders Law Group. His practice focused on estate planning and trust creation and administration, with an emphasis on special needs trust planning. Mr. Tiefenback currently serves on the board of directors of the Alliance of Pooled Trusts (APT), the first coalition in the United States dedicated to uniting Pooled Trust providers in establishing best practices for the industry. He also writes for CCT and other publications, including NAELA News, and speaks at CLE seminars and other events across the country.

Mr. Pawley has spent the last 19 years assisting insurance carriers, third party administrators, self-insureds, and attorneys with settlement planning on workers compensation and liability claims. As a 17-year employee of Medivest, he presents nationally regarding issues ranging from Medicare Set Asides and Professional Administration to the preservation and coordination of public benefits.
Description
Representing individuals with disabilities, minors, or vulnerable adults adds an additional layer of complexity to counsel's fiduciary and ethical responsibilities. Challenges arise when clients receive lump-sum awards without proper planning, including disqualification from benefits, misuse of funds, and exposure to fraud or mismanagement.
Counsel must be able to evaluate trust options, select administrators, and audit institutional safeguards to prevent client exploitation or trust insolvency, an urgent concern in light of recent high-profile trust failures.
Listen as our expert panel shares their insight on designing coordinated post-settlement plans to protect vulnerable clients and comply with benefit rules. The panel will provide an overview of PSNTs and examine when and how an MSA should be used in tandem with a trust. The panelists will explore coordinating ABLE accounts and other benefit-preserving tools, and how to evaluate pooled trust organizations.
Outline
I. Introduction and case study
A. Structured settlements, MSAs, and PSNTs
B. Case overview
II. Overview of government benefits
A. Means-tested benefits: SSI and Medicaid
B. Earned benefits: SSDI and Medicare
C. Understanding dual eligibility and benefit coordination
III. PSNTs: fundamentals
IV. Selecting a pooled trust
V. Integrating MSAs and structured settlements
A. When to use an MSA arrangement
B. Coordinating MSAs with pooled trusts to preserve benefits
VI. Trust administration: client expectations
A. Administrator roles and responsibilities
B. Distribution process and sole benefit rule
VII. ABLE accounts and alternate tools
Benefits
The panel will review these and other important issues:
- Preserving Medicaid and SSI eligibility after a settlement or judgment
- PSNTs versus individual trusts
- MSAs: use and trust coordination
- Evaluating trust administrators
- Navigating disbursement rules and sole benefit requirements
- Using ABLE accounts with trusts
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