A Supplemental Needs Trust is a trust created for a chronically and severely disabled beneficiary which supplements government benefits such as Medicaid rather than diminishing such benefits. Medicaid and other government benefit programs consider the resources and income of an individual for purposes of determining eligibility for assistance and the amount of such assistance. With a Supplemental Needs Trust, however, a person such as a family member may establish a trust for a disabled individual without jeopardizing the beneficiary's eligibility for Medicaid and other government benefits. With recent changes in federal and state law, trusts for disabled persons may even be established with the disabled person's own funds, if certain strictures are followed.