My daughter is sick with a blood disease which will require a bone marrow transplant and we would like to have a benefit. We have a date and place reserved but have a lot of questions and concerns.
She won’t be able to work for 2 years or so and did qualify for some social security. We want to make sure any money donated to her does not affect her status with social security. Also we wondered if there are any tax obligations etc. I do work at a law firm and have one of the guys here looking into it but I thought I’d see if anyone here has had experience in this area.
yea we did one for my friend…he had other big benefit parties, but we held another one for close friends/family because he needed as much help as possible…
like the one we did…i recommend something along the lines of sheet pizzas and wings …its easy…and its cheaper to feed a lot of people (with food that they’ll like) - which makes sense since you want to spend as little on anything so that there is more profit…it also helped that we knew a guy that owns a pizza place because he helped a lot on prices because it was for a good cause, which might be another idea to think about…
…other than that, i can’t see any tax obligations…everyone you invite is there to HELP, and they wouldnt rat you out…have a banquet hall set up with people you know and just use the profits for your daughter…who can argue with you if its a private party
Be careful with that. Do the research. My advice would be to setup a page online and take donations via Paypal (because its easy and convenient). You can reach a ton of people that dont even know your daughter. Paypal is strict with their gay policies so you need to research that too.
You can do the online thing in addition to the Benefit. Cant hurt to try and the more the better.
the only thing i can think of that you should look into is if SS basis what they give you off of what money you have in your bank account. So if you raise a lot of money and put it in an account with her name on it, SS may not give her as much money since they see how much she has.
I can’t off the top of my head see a way to do it legally without either a “Morally Obligated Gift” I.e you, or some other party gets the money and then hopefully spends it on the beneficiary. This is very wishy/washy and depends on how much people you’re inviting to the benefit trust you and your judgment. Way two is to set-up a something like a Supplemental trust. To quote somebody else:
“Supplemental trusts are designed so the principal and its earnings supplement the beneficiary’s care and does not replace the funds required to pay for this same care. This kind of trust is good for the SSI and Medicaid recipient whose assets cannot exceed specific levels. The trust grantor can carefully direct the trust not replace the cost of services covered by Medicaid. Instead, the trust would require the trustee to only provide funds for certain items, services or other expenses not covered by SSI and Medicaid. Supplemental trusts can also be set up for someone who is not on SSI and Medicaid.”
