2009 North Carolina Code
Chapter 36D - North Carolina Community Trust for Persons with Severe Chronic Disabilities.
§ 36D-1. Title; findings.

Chapter 36D.

North Carolina Community Trust for Persons with Severe Chronic Disabilities.

§ 36D‑1.  Title; findings.

(a)        This Article shall be known and may be cited as the "North Carolina Community Trust for Persons With Severe Chronic Disabilities Act".

(b)        The General Assembly finds that it is in the public interest to encourage activities by voluntary associations and private citizens that will supplement and augment those services provided by local, State, and federal government agencies in discharge of their responsibilities toward individuals with severe chronic disabilities. The General Assembly further finds that, as a result of changing social, economic, and demographic trends, families of persons with severe chronic disabilities are increasingly aware of the need for a vehicle by which they can assure ongoing individualized personal concern for a severely disabled family member who may survive that disabled person's parents or other family members, and provide for the efficient management of small legacies or trust funds to be used for the benefit of that disabled person. In a number of other states, voluntary associations have established foundations or trusts intended to be responsive to these concerns. Therefore, the General Assembly finds that North Carolina will benefit by the enactment of enabling legislation expressly authorizing the formation of community trusts in accordance with criteria set forth by statute and administered by the Secretary of State, under Chapter 55A of the General Statutes. These community trusts permit the pooling of resources contributed by families or persons with philanthropic intent, along with the reservation of portions of these funds for the use and benefit of designated beneficiaries.

(c)        This Article shall be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes and policies, which are, among others, to:

(1)        Encourage the orderly establishment of community trusts for the benefit of persons with severe chronic disabilities;

(2)        Ensure that community trusts are administered properly and that the managing boards of the trusts are free from conflicts of interest;

(3)        Facilitate sound administration of trust funds for persons with severe chronic disabilities by allowing family members and others to pool resources in order to make professional management investment more efficient;

(4)        Provide parents of persons with severe chronic disabilities peace of mind in knowing that a means exists to ensure that the interests of their children who have severe chronic disabilities are properly looked after and managed after the parents die or become incapacitated;

(5)        Help make guardians available for persons with severe chronic disabilities who are incompetent, when no other family member is available for this purpose;

(6)        Encourage the availability of private resources to purchase for persons with severe chronic disabilities goods and services that are not available through any governmental or charitable program and to conserve these resources by limiting purchases to those that are not available from other sources;

(7)        Encourage the inclusion, as beneficiaries of community trusts, of persons who lack resources and whose families are indigent, in a way that does not diminish the resources available to other beneficiaries whose families have contributed to the trust; and

(8)        Remove the disincentives that discourage parents and others from setting aside funds for the future protection of persons with severe chronic disabilities by ensuring that the interest of beneficiaries in community trusts are not considered assets or income that would disqualify them from any governmental or charitable entitlement program with an economic means test. (1991 (Reg. Sess., 1992), c. 768, s. 1; 2005‑192, s. 3.)