Newsletter
October 2026
It is a beautiful fall day, and it is amazing how quickly time passes! CCT was founded in 1990 by the parent of a daughter with a disability who brought together other parents and Trust and Estate Attorney Carolyn Bourdow to help establish a pooled special needs trust. Thanks to that vision, CCT has continued to grow and now offers four trust options, serving individuals and families, nationwide.
With growth comes increased responsibility and the need for additional staff. I am pleased to welcome our newest team members and extend my sincere thanks to the staff who have been instrumental in CCT’s continued growth and service to the special needs trust community.
In today’s newsletter, Christian Lewis, Esq., Counsel and Director of Trust Onboarding, shares his impressions and motivation for coming to CCT. Meghan Wishmeyer, MSW, Client Services Coordinator is highlighted in the article written by Jessica Morris, LCSW. We are accepting resumes for an Administration Assistant. See the Job Description on our website...
This edition also includes articles on In-Kind Support and Maintenance, as well as the challenges faced by the special needs trust community in the wake of the disturbing actions of the Center for Special Needs.
As we reflect on how far CCT has come, we remain committed to the vision that brought us together more than 35 years ago. Our mission continues to guide how we grow and serve those who place their funds and trust with CCT.
I hope you enjoy the cooler weather.
With gratitude for the opportunity to serve our clients and the trust you have in us,
Joanne Marcus, MSW
President and CEO
Our staff are available to answer questions and provide support.
All photographs and testimonials included in our newsletter are CCT Beneficiaries, advocates, or allied professionals who have kindly given permission for us to share their words and/or image.
In-Kind Support & Maintenance: Shelter Expenses & Special Needs Trusts
October 16, 2026 marked World Food Day, opportunity raise awareness of about global hunger and food insecurity. It’s a good time to look back on the history of the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program administered by the Social Security Administration, which works alongside other programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to address these nutritional needs.
One of the primary areas of interaction between SSI and special needs trusts is the In-Kind Support and Maintenance (ISM) concept. SSI is designed to provide for the basic welfare needs of qualifying participants – food, clothing, shelter, and other needs. Accordingly, when a third-party provides for these needs, SSI Benefits may be reduced to account for the additional support, and the government does not want the taxpayer to be providing for those needs.
Originally, regulations required any SSI recipient who was given food, clothing, or shelter by any third party – including any trust – faced a reduction in their SSI payment in the amount of the gift. In 2005, clothing was removed as ISM and no longer impacted SSI payments.
In 2024, food was removed from ISM as well, which greatly simplified the administration of special needs trusts for SSI recipients. Previously, every payment from a special needs trust had required additional scrutiny for food. It made using a special needs trust more difficult for those who needed more support for their nutritional needs.
This October, we are grateful that our work, and that of all pooled special needs trusts, in supporting special needs trust beneficiaries who receive SSI has been made easier and less burdensome for those beneficiaries.
CCT YouTube Shorts
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A New Chapter: Joining CCT
Written by Christian J. Lewis, Esq., Counsel & Director of Trust Onboarding
Twenty years ago, I began my legal career as a plaintiff’s personal injury attorney, the kind of lawyer you see advertised on TV. Over the years, I litigated thousands of cases, and I am proud of the work I did and of the people I helped during some of their darkest days, as I fought to get compensation for their injuries.
Every one of those cases shared a common thread: it required a fight. Strip the life of a litigator down to its basic emotions and you are essentially a professional fighter, because every case involves a controversy. Sometimes that fight is necessary, but living in a constant state of conflict wears on a person.
Throughout my years in private practice, I made pro bono work a priority. One of my favorite law professors described becoming an attorney as “entering the lawyer class,” and I have always valued that idea. A law license gives you power to act that most people do not have, and in exchange, I believe lawyers owe a debt to society to make things better when they can. That belief led me to volunteer as an attorney while still in private practice.
Pictured: Christian J. Lewis, Esq., Counsel & Director of Trust Onboarding and Allie Wright, Executive Assistant & Strategic Projects Manager.
For years, I hoped to have the opportunity to move from private practice to a strong non-profit serving a vulnerable population. I wanted to go beyond occasional pro bono work and devote my career to the duty I believe attorneys owe to the world around them. When I began looking for my next chapter in July 2026, I discovered CCT, and from my first conversations with President and CEO Joanne Marcus, it felt like a perfect match.
My new role focuses on Special Needs Trusts, which I knew well from representing clients in injury lawsuits. I also know my limits: I am not a social worker. I was thrilled to learn that CCT has a team of experienced social workers supporting our clients. That allows me to focus on the legal issues and on helping other professionals guide beneficiaries to the CCT fund that best suits their needs.
One of the best things about being an attorney is helping people find answers. At CCT, I do that every day, and I get to do it without the conflict of litigation. There is nothing more meaningful than telling the parents of an adult child with a disability that CCT will be here to care for their child after they are gone.
I am grateful to have joined CCT, and it has been a great start to what I hope will be a long career. I enjoy helping families understand how our trusts work, and I look forward to growing with CCT in the coming years.
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: If assets are already held in a CCT Settlement Preservation Pooled Trust or Third-Party Protection Pooled Trust and the beneficiary later becomes disabled, can those assets be transferred to CCT’s First or Third-Party Pooled Special Needs Trusts (PSNT) to protect eligibility for public benefits?
Answer: Yes. If a beneficiary later becomes disabled and can benefit from a special need trust the CCT allows for the transferred to CCT’s First and/or Third Party PSNTs, depending on the circumstances. The PSNTs allow assets to continue to be used for the beneficiary’s benefit while helping preserve eligibility for means-tested public benefits, such as SSI and Medicaid.
Our Client Services Staff Who Set Us Apart
Written by
Jessica Morris, LCSW
Client Services Manager
One of the characteristics that sets CCT apart from other trust companies is the hiring of master's level social workers and special education teachers. This is what first drew Client Services Coordinator Meghan Wishmeyer , MSW, to CCT. She knew she wanted to support vulnerable and disabled individuals, and CCT’s staffing assured her that the organization is person-centered and focused on meeting client needs.
After completing both her bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degree in social work at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, Meghan worked as a therapeutic aide with behaviorally challenged youth. Before her tenure at CCT began, she also worked in management in the hospitality industry. Ultimately, social work has always been Meghan’s passion, incorporating her desire to have a positive impact on the lives of those needing support. As many in the human services field may recognize, the opportunity to hear others’ “stories” and perspectives makes the work especially rewarding. Learning about a client’s unique needs and life situation can require a sensitive touch, and Meghan exemplifies this in her role at CCT.
CCT offers a range of trust options, serving a diverse population of beneficiaries and their advocates. Regardless of the specifics of a person’s circumstances, a social work perspective can be valuable and help provide each client with a positive experience with their trust administration. Discussing finances can be a sensitive topic for anybody, and having an outside entity involved in the management of money can potentially be disturbing. Having Meghan on staff along with her colleagues is part of what makes CCT’s approach a success.
Meghan, Client Services Coordinator
Lessons Learned from the Center for Special Needs Trust Administration
Any time there is a high-profile act of malfeasance, conscientious professionals take it as an opportunity to learn, to improve our practices, and to help serve our clients better. One such act was the theft by financial advisor Leo Govoni of over a hundred million dollars from a pooled special needs trust, the Center for Special Needs Trust Administration (the Center), which has galvanized changing practices across many of those who administer special needs trusts or use them for their clients.
As a pooled trust administrator, CCT has seen these shifts both internally and in the broader industry. For us, we ensured that our internal and external auditing processes were exceeding standards for nonprofit and pooled trust organizations. Audits not just of our own finances, but those of our partners and of our internal processes.
We reviewed every mechanism by which funds flow in and out of our trusts, and CCT as an organization, to ensure that a single bad actor or small cabal would not be able to direct or reroute funds improperly. We have created articles and checklists, and given presentations to professional organizations, to educate those professionals on what to look for when selecting a pooled trust administrator to ensure that they are not sending their own clients into a situation like the Center.
Attorneys, settlement planners, and other professionals who work with pooled special needs trusts have learned that transparency is critical in selecting a trust administrator. The Center, to put it lightly, was not transparent. Its board of directors was minimal, with only three members; that information was not available on its website. Its fee schedules and remainder policies were not publicly available. And the identity of the company that performed its audits was not made available – which was critical in that specific case, because the auditing company was in fact owned and operated by Mr. Govoni.
Finally, we have seen additional due diligence being performed by judges, especially in the state of Florida where Mr. Govoni’s misdeeds were committed. Judges considering a settlement that would involve a pooled trust have requested additional information about CCT’s protective policies to guard our beneficiaries’ funds, our insurance, and the identity of our partners such as our professional trustee and our investment advisor. This scrutiny, and requests for similar information from professionals and professional organizations, led us to create an overview summarizing the relevant data.
In the wake of the Govoni scandal, the special needs trust industry has undergone a meaningful transformation. Pooled trust administrators have strengthened internal audits, reviewed fund-flow mechanisms to prevent bad actors from misdirecting money, and invested in educating attorneys and settlement planners on how to vet a pooled trust administrator. The scandal has also made transparency the defining standard of due diligence. Professionals and judges alike should expect publicly available fee schedules, clear governance structures, independent auditors, and detailed information about a pooled trust administrator’s partners and protective policies. While the theft of over $100 million from vulnerable beneficiaries was devastating, its legacy may ultimately be a more accountable and transparent industry that is better equipped to protect the vulnerable people these trusts were designed to serve.
Conferences & Presentations
October
October 6, 2026 | The Golightly Law Firm – Virtual Presentation by M. Benjamin Tiefenback, Esq. – Pooled Trusts: Protecting Vulnerable Beneficiaries & Preserving Public Benefits
October 14, 2026 | National Structured Settlements Trade Association – Presentation by M. Benjamin Tiefenback, Esq. – Evaluating Pooled Trusts
October 15, 2026 | The Vermont Bar Association – Virtual CLE Presentation by M. Benjamin Tiefenback, Esq. – Managing Disbursement Challenges in Trust Administration: Fiduciary Responsibilities, and Legal Considerations
October 15-17, 2026 | North Carolina Advocates for Justice – Mountain Magic
October 21-23, 2026 | Stetson Law – 2026 National Conference on Special Needs Planning and Special Needs Trusts
October 24, 2026 | Special Needs Alliance – Fall Meeting 2026 – Panel with M. Benjamin Tiefenback, Esq. – Inside my AI Practice
October 29, 2026 | Carnegie Law Group – Presentation by M. Benjamin Tiefenback, Esq. – Protecting Vulnerable Beneficiaries & Preserving Public Benefits
November
November 8-9, 2026 | American Association of Settlement Consultants – 2026 AASC Annual Meeting
November 12-13, 2026 | Utah Association for Justice – 2026 UAJ Annual Conference
November 17, 2026 | Virginia Trial Lawyers Association – Annual Paralegal Seminar
November 20, 2026 | Autism Society of Central Virginia – Virtual Presentation by M. Benjamin Tiefenback, Esq. – Caregivers of Teens with Autism
December
December 1, 2026 | Estate Planning Council of North Georgia – December Council Meeting - Presentation by M. Benjamin Tiefenback, Esq. – Using Pooled Trusts as a Safety Net When Drafting Estate Plans
December 10, 2026 | Maine Bar Association – Virtual CLE Presentation by M. Benjamin Tiefenback, Esq. and Christian Lewis, Esq. – Using Pooled Special Needs Trusts as a Safety Net in Estate Planning
(Click the Image to Watch the Video)
Our staff are available to answer questions and provide support.
