Arkansas Department of Human Services v. Estate of Hogan

David Newbern, Justice.

Two questions are presented in this appeal. The first is whether a probate court may approve a tort claim settlement on behalf of a ward if the settlement distributes funds to a trust designed not to be a medicaid qualifying trust. The second question is whether a probate court has authority to declare that such a trust is not a medicaid qualifying trust. We affirm the order approving distribution to the trust, but we reverse the order holding that the trust is not a medicaid qualifying trust.

Kimberly Dawn Hogan was born in 1981 with brain dysfunction. In 1988 she was…