Can a Special Needs Trust Pay for Pornography?
March 17th, 2009 by Margolis
An interesting post recently surfaced on the listserv for members of the Academy of Special Needs Planners. a member who is trustee of many special needs trusts asked whether it would be appropriate for one of his trusts to pay for pay-per-view pornography for the beneficiary. While the attorney felt that 12 of such movies over four days was a bit excessive, the beneficiary’s mother (in fact) argued that the beneficiary has no social life and that watching pornography is his only outlet.
Perhaps surprisingly, the response of other members was largely in favor of the trust paying for the movies, with some reasonable limitations. One attorney-special needs trustee reported that she has a similar case where the trust beneficiary is a young man who is a double amputee. She put him on a budget and has him buy videos rather than using pay-per-view, since he can watch them as often as he likes.
Another attorney pointed out that 70 percent of pay-per-view movies rented through hotels are X-rated. “More important,” he said “human being are inherently sexual creatures, and should enjoy as a basic human right the ability to express their sexuality.” He also pointed out that some producers of adult films are better than others in terms of their treatment of the actors and their protection from AIDS and other STDs and suggested that any movies purchased by the special needs trust be “produced by companies that exhibit an appropriate level of regard for the health and dignity of the actresses and actors who appear in them.”
This is just one example of the kinds of requests received by trustees of special needs trusts which are not seen be trusts designed more for asset management and protection. It’s one of the reasons that the choice of trustee for a special needs trust is so important. A knee-jerk reaction of saying no to such a request would not serve the needs of the special needs trust beneficiary.
Tags: pornography, special needs trusts, trustee