SPECIAL NEEDS PLANNING

Working with experienced counsel is always crucial; however, this need is amplified when you have a loved one with disabilities. You worry how they will be cared for when you are not around. You worry how they will be able to pay their bills. An attorney with special needs planning experience can help you gain peace of mind by setting up a plan that will address all of these concerns. This type of plan can include creating a Special Needs Trust, establishing a guardianship, and opening an ABLE account.

 

Special Needs Trusts, also known as Supplemental Needs Trusts, are a necessary part of every estate plan when one or more of the beneficiaries is disabled. If you have a son or daughter with disabilities who is currently receiving, or could receive, public benefits, such as Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and you leave them money in your Will and/or Trust, the receipt of that money could disqualify them from receiving those public benefits.

 

However, if, instead, you leave them money in a Supplemental Needs Trust, your loved one can maintain their public benefits, while also having the use of the money in the Supplemental Needs Trust.

 

Supplemental Needs Trusts must be drafted in accordance with very specific rules and the person in charge of the trust, the trustee, must be careful to follow those rules while they are managing the trust. The attorneys at Tomac & Tomac have the knowledge and experience to assist families with creating these important trusts and guiding trustees through the administration process.