Is there anything actually required to open a benefit account for somebody (for medical treatments, etc)?

What happens when the person for whom the benefits are for passes away and the family starts using it as a 'memorial fund'?

There is an authorized signer on the account in question. Does he just handle the money as he sees fit? Do we need any documentation showing he is allowed to use the money?
Do we even need a death certificate? Can it be used for both a benefit and memorial fund situation?

Sorry for the number of questions...I'm reading the statutes and very confused...

Thanks for any help/opinion/experience!

Are you a member of the Minnesota Bankers? Tess Rice wrote a good help sheet in regards to benefit accounts. I have a copy and could email it to you if you are interested. PM me with your email and I'll get it to you tomorrow.

I'm sorry to bring up this old post, but a coworker asked me a question today and I have been trying to help find some guidance for him.

This is more of a personal than work issue for him -- He is part of a group of friends of a terminally ill person who are planning a benefit to raise money for the ill person to help pay expenses for the family. The family is on MN Care, which is a health care insurance plan offered by the state of MN to people with certain income and asset levels. The original plan was to hold the benefit and give the proceeds to the family, but someone mentioned that they can only have a certain (low) amount of assets before they are excluded from this insurance coverage, and the group doesn't want to accidentally cause the family to lose coverage -- especially right now!

Someone else suggested a FBO trust, with a non-family member set up as trustee to pay bills such as mortgage, car, credit card, etc. Does anybody know anything about these in this type of situation? It would seem to me that a real trust would have to be set up, not just an account styled with that language, and that the account would have to have a TIN and pay taxes, etc. Even then, it is not all that clear if that would be sufficient to keep the trust money out of the "asset pile" of the family.

I appreciate any comments or advice. I never thought of this before and don't work with deposit issues much. I apologize if anyone thinks this should be in the Couch - I debated where to post.

Thanks.