Department of Income Maintenance v. Watts

The issue in this case is whether the Probate Court may properly approve, pursuant to General Statutes § 45-300 (b),1 the disclaimer, by a conservator of an incapable person receiving state assistance, of his ward’s interest in a testamentary trust, in view of the prohibition in General Statutes (Rev. to 1987) § 17-82j against dispositions of the property of state aid recipients.

Patricia Watts, ward of the defendant conservator, is a remainder beneficiary of a testamentary trust created under the will of her grandmother, who died in 1950. The life beneficiary of the trust, Patricia’s father,…