Welfare loopholes for recipients – what you need to know
by Reuel S. Amdur

There are gimmicks available to protect people's entitlement to social assistance, and there are ways of getting benefits that the government does not want to give you. Some of the loopholes identified here relate to the Ontario scene, but one has national scope. Here are some scenarios.

-You are disabled. You have $15,000 in the bank, but the asset limit for a single person for the Ontario Disability Support Program is $5,000. (It is more for a family, of course.) They tell you, "Go live on your money and come back when it's down to $5,000." Don't do it!

-Alternatively, you win $25,000 on a lottery and fear being cut off.

There are options to what you can do with the amount in excess of $5,000. For example, you can buy a car, of any value. The value of the car does not count as an asset. If you have enough to make a good down payment on a house or a condo, you can go that route, making sure that you can live on the $930 a month for a single while making mortgage payments and other housing costs.

Another option is "insurance". You can have insurance in an amount up to $100,000 and still be eligible, and one form that is permissible in Ontario is segregated funds, an insurance instrument that looks like and feels like a mutual fund.

-Your doctor orders a special diet. The particular diet costs more than a regular diet, but it does not appear on the list of diets covered by the province. The local Ontario Works office or the Ministry of Community, Family and Children's Services says you're out of luck. Wrong again! Ask for the additional cost of the diet, and when it is refused, appeal the denial and get the help of your local legal clinic to fight for it. If legit, you're almost certain to win.

-You have a disabled child, perhaps now an adult, and you want to leave him or her an estate, without interfering with provincial disability benefits. It can be done, in all provinces with the possible exception of Alberta, where a law closing this loophole will undoubtedly be tested in the courts at some point. The preferred way of arranging the inheritance is in the form of what is called a Henson Trust. Where there is an inheritance without such an arrangement having been made, there are sometimes second-best alternatives. For example, in Ontario, the Ministry will cooperate in the setting-up of a trust on somewhat less favorable terms than the Henson form.

If you have questions about how to take advantage of any of these loopholes or other matters related to social assistance in Ontario, feel free to contact me. I may have the answer, or if not I can probably point you to the people who do have it.

Reuel Amdur is a social worker and writer living in Val des Monts, Quebec.
He can be contacted at amdurre@infonet.ca

source: Straight Goods

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This page was created/updated on Sept 17, 2002