{"data":{"id":"us-nj/n.j.-stat.-3b-31-37","jurisdiction":"us-nj","citation":"N.J. Stat. § 3B:31-37","heading":"Special needs trusts.","body":"Special Needs Trusts.\nEven if a trust contains a spendthrift provision, the following shall apply:\na.\tSpecial Needs\n(1)\t\"Protected person\" means a person who is:\n(a)\tan aged, blind, or disabled individual as defined at 42 U.S.C. s.1382c;\n(b)\tdevelopmentally disabled as defined in section 2 of P.L.1979, c.105 (C.30:1AA-2); or\n(c)\tunder age 18, or over age 18 and a full-time student, with serious disabilities that reasonably may prevent the individual from being self sufficient as an adult.\n(2)\t\"Special needs trust\" means an OBRA '93 trust, as defined in subsection a. of section 3 of P.L.2000, c.96 (C.3B:11-37), or trust governed by a written instrument which:\n(a)\tgrants a trustee  broad discretion to determine whether and when to distribute;\n(b)\tlimits distributions during the trust term to distributions to benefit one or more protected persons, although  the trust shall have at least one protected person as beneficiary;\n(c)\tprovides that the trustee does not have any obligation to pay the protected person's obligations or fund  his support;\n(d)\tdoes not give the protected person any right to require the trustee to distribute at a specific time or for a particular purpose or to assign or encumber interests in the trust; and\n(e)\tevidences the grantor's intent to supplement rather than replace or impair government assistance that the protected person receives or for which  he otherwise may be eligible.\nb.\tNotwithstanding any other provision of this act or other law:\n(1)\ttrustees of a special needs trust  have broad discretion over distributions;\n(2)\tno creditor of a protected person may  reach or attach a protected person's interest in a special needs trust and  no creditor may require the trustees to distribute to satisfy a protected person's creditor's claim; and\n(3)\ta special needs trust shall terminate at such time as provided in its governing instrument.\nc.\tA special needs trust shall not be required to repay government aid provided to a protected person unless the aid was provided on the basis that the special needs trust would repay the aid when the protected person dies, or the special needs trust terminates sooner and the special needs trust instrument expressly calls for such repayment.  This provision does not apply to a first-party, self-settled OBRA '93 trust as defined in subsection a. of section 3 of P.L.2000, c.96 (C.3B:11-37).\nd.\tNotwithstanding N.J.S.3B:31-35 and N.J.S.3B:31-36, trustees of a special needs trust shall exercise their discretion in good faith to further trust purposes and courts may exercise their equity authority to remedy trustee abuses of discretion.\nL.2015, c.276, s.1.","path":["TITLE 3B ADMINISTRATION OF ESTATES--DECEDENTS AND OTHERS"],"source_url":"https://pub.njleg.state.nj.us/statutes/STATUTES-TEXT.zip","current_through":"P.L.2025, c.405, and J.R.22","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-08-27T17:54:13Z","sha256":"237dc04ced7aa0d801718317ec4082db589a81669482f6f9903eb57f7ec3ded0","source_id":"us-nj","stale":true,"prev":"us-nj/n.j.-stat.-3b-31-36","next":"us-nj/n.j.-stat.-3b-31-38"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}