Thank you for your response. I read the link you sent, and have also read several other articles from the Special Needs Alliance. Some of those articles are what has led me to think that this trust should possibly be a Grantor type trust for tax purposes, rather than a QDT as previously filed, even though it was set up as a special needs trust. I have tax prep background, so prepared the return myself last year according to the way the CPA firm had prepared it in the past - to avoid the expense - but the more I read, the more I'm wondering if it's been done correctly. And it seems like if it were a grantor type trust it would be more beneficial to pass through the income to the beneficiary since the standard deduction/tax rate would be better than the QDT exemption/tax rate. Before I file this year, I'd really like to be sure that we're filing it correctly. And the beneficiary does collect SSDI benefits, she was formerly on SSI when this trust was set up. Thanks in advance for any further thoughts since this is pretty complicated.
