National Pooled Trust Directory: Fees and Minimums for Every State

A pooled special needs trust is run by a nonprofit that combines many families’ accounts for investment while keeping a separate sub-account for each beneficiary. For most families it is the affordable alternative to paying an attorney thousands of dollars to draft a standalone trust, and many programs accept small balances that no bank would take. But the fees, minimums, and terms vary enormously between organizations, and almost nobody publishes them side by side. This directory lists 68 nonprofit pooled trust programs across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, with the fees each one publishes and the date that fee information was last updated. Everything here was read off the organization’s own website or fee schedule in August 2026.

Flat annual fees are brutal on small accounts. Life Plan Trust in North Carolina charges a flat $2,500 a year on any account under $250,000. On a $25,000 trust that is roughly 10 percent a year. Percentage-based fees at other organizations run from under 1 percent to about 3 percent, so on a small account the difference between two nonprofits can exceed the entire cost of hiring an attorney.

Ask what happens to the money that is left. Shared Horizons retains 50 percent of the remaining balance for charitable purposes on death and charges $4,500 to terminate an account. Babcock Center in South Carolina retains 20 percent, and participants may not exit the trust until the funds are exhausted. Maine Pooled Disability Trust retains 50 percent before the state is reimbursed. Enhanced Life Options may retain 45 percent on a self-settled account.

Age limits are common and are not always obvious. Enhanced Life Options does not accept new trusts for anyone 65 or older. Several first-party programs require enrollment before 65 because of how the federal rules treat later transfers. Ask before you apply.

The other end of the range. Washington’s DD Endowment Trust Fund, created by the state legislature, currently credits back the entire $600 enrollment fee and the annual tax preparation fee as state matching funds. FND Trust Services has no minimum balance and charges nothing until the trust is actually funded. Achieva in Pennsylvania charges nothing to open or close an account. Community Fund Ohio’s annuity product carries no setup or annual maintenance fee.

How it was compiled. Every organization was checked in August 2026 against its own website and, where one exists, its own published fee schedule. Fees taken from any other source are labeled as such in the notes. Where an organization does not publish a figure, this directory says “not published” rather than guessing or repeating a number from a third-party listing.

Read the “fees as of” column. 37 of the 68 programs date their fee information; the rest publish figures with no date at all. The dated ones range from schedules effective in 2026 to documents last revised in 2019. Fees change and most schedules say so explicitly. Call the organization before you rely on any number here.

What is not here. Programs that could not be verified as operating were left out rather than listed on faith. During this survey we found several organizations still listed in other directories that have closed, merged, or never ran a pooled trust at all, including one entry whose published link pointed to an unrelated company in a different state. If you find an error or know of a program we missed, please tell us and we will check it and update the page.

Not legal advice. Choosing between a pooled trust and a standalone trust depends on the amount involved, your state’s Medicaid rules, and your family’s situation. Several of these programs require you to work with an attorney, and that requirement is noted where it applies. See our guide to special needs trusts for how pooled trusts compare with the alternatives.

New York families: New York has more pooled trusts than any other state, more than twenty. The two largest are listed above; for the full roster, the NY Health Access list of pooled SNTs is maintained and current.