## Facts

- Marie Strojek was mentally disabled and lived under her parents’ care until she was about 41 years old.
- After leaving her parents’ home, Strojek became a resident of a county home, where her care cost roughly $21,900 per year.
- Hardin County initially paid for Strojek’s care at the county home through county assistance.
- Strojek’s father later died, and his will created a trust intended to provide for Strojek’s care and support.
- Strojek’s sister, Caroline Mills, served as trustee and brought the action on Strojek’s behalf.
- The will directed that the trustee **shall** pay for Strojek’s care in whatever amounts the trustee, in her **sole discretion**, determined were necessary for that purpose.
- Several years after the trust was created, the county implemented a policy limiting county benefits to individuals with limited financial resources.
- The county treated the trust as a financial resource available to Strojek and determined she was ineligible for continued county assistance.
- Mills appealed the county’s determination to the Hardin County Board of Supervisors, which affirmed the denial.
- Mills sought judicial review in district court, and the district court affirmed the Board’s decision.
- Mills appealed to the Iowa Court of Appeals.

## Issues

1. Whether the testamentary trust for Strojek’s care, despite giving the trustee “sole discretion” over payments, could be treated as an available financial resource when deciding eligibility for county assistance.
2. Whether the county properly denied county-funded residential care benefits on the ground that Strojek’s trust assets were available to pay for her support.

## Decision

- The Iowa Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s decision upholding the Board’s denial of benefits.
- The court held that the trust’s “sole discretion” language did not prevent the county from treating the trust as a resource because the trust was established for Strojek’s support and care.
- Because the trust was available to meet Strojek’s support needs, the county could consider it in determining whether she met the county’s “limited financial resources” requirement for assistance.

## Legal Principles

- A trust created for a beneficiary’s support and care may be treated as a resource for public-assistance eligibility, even if the trustee has discretion over the timing and amount of payments.
- “Sole discretion” language does not necessarily make a trust “unavailable” where the trust’s purpose is support; the trustee’s discretion is tied to the obligation to use trust funds for the beneficiary’s needs.
- Public funds for basic care may be conditioned on the use of private resources set aside for the beneficiary’s support, consistent with statutory limits on assistance for those lacking financial means.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed the denial of county assistance, reasoning that Strojek’s father created the trust to pay for her support and care, and the trustee’s discretionary authority did not keep the trust from being treated as an available financial resource under the county’s eligibility rules.


Strojek ex rel. Mills v. Hardin County Board of Supervisors, 602 N.W.2d 566 (1999)