Helping the Special People in Your Life: The Special Needs Trust
August 20, 2009
Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles often come into our offices to make estate plans, and one of the questions they ask is how they can support the people in their lives who have special needs. Special needs can include anything from Autism or Down Syndrome to Paralysis or blindness, and everything in between. These special needs family members may be receiving public benefits, such as SSI or Medi-Cal. Leaving money directly to them in a Will or Trust would, in most cases, bounce them off of such public benefits. A much better approach is to leave them a bequest in a way that will allow your special person to enjoy BOTH the public benefits upon which they rely AND your bequest. The way to do this is by leaving your gift in a Special Needs Trust.
Special needs trusts are not yet well-known, but they are gaining attention among attorneys, financial advisors, and in the mainstream media. They are permitted by both federal and state law, and recognize the need for families to “partnership” with government to improve the quality of life for the disabled. For Questions and Answers, and more information, visit our site at “Special Needs Planning”.
A Special Needs Trust can be useful for children or for disabled adults. It is a far better alternative than cutting your special person entirely out of your Will or Trust, simply to avoid jeopardizing their SSI or Medi-Cal benefits.
A special needs trust can mean the difference between living an enriched life and barely getting by. If you have someone in your life with special needs, inquire about a special needs trust as a way to leave an inheritance. It could make a world of difference.
New Website May Help Caregivers Breathe a Sigh of Relief
June 12, 2009
If you provide care for an elderly relative or a special needs child you know how much work is involved in just getting away for an afternoon or evening, let alone planning for their care if you were to pass away. First you have to find a caregiver qualified to handle your loved one’s more demanding needs, then there are lists upon lists of “what if” situations, a strict regimen of prescription medicines, and of course all of the little quirks and routines that must be strictly followed. And after all that, just when you feel comfortable leaving your loved one in the care of someone else… your “babysitter” moves away and you have to go through it all again.
What if there was a way that you could not only keep a record of all details, regimens and instructions, but also an easy way to update and communicate that information to any and all caregivers when anything changed? And would it be too much to ask to have this record somehow linked to all the latest research, resources and best-practice recommendations? Apparently it is not too much to ask, because this is exactly what the new online service, CareGiver360®, claims to provide.
CareGiver360® is the brainchild of Ken Ziel, father of a special needs son, who worried about what kind of life his son would have if anything were to happen to Ken. After much research, Ken started CareGiver360®, “an easy to use, interactive Web service that lets you create a secure Personalized Care Guide to help you manage the care of your loved one. CareGiver360® provides a wealth of caregiving resources through its searchable online library. You can draw upon this valuable resource to supplement your personal experience to create a customized, comprehensive care guide.”
CareGiver360® is a fairly new tool, but it sounds so good one has to wonder why nobody came up with the idea before. We would love to provide our clients and readers with helpful reviews, so if you’ve used the service please leave a comment letting us know how it worked for you. And we ought to mention that the service isn’t free, but at just under $10/month it’s probably not going to break the bank either.
Autistic Adults: When Your Child Needs You as Much at 50 as She Did at 5
February 13, 2009
Every parent’s first priority is making sure that their child is provided for; that is an important goal for young couples when creating Wills and other estate planning documents. If their child or children are young, parents want to insure that their child will be safe and cared for if that tragic “what if” scenario should ever come true. It’s easier to relax about the “what if” planning once your baby has grown up and doesn’t rely solely on you for food and shelter, love and security. But what if your baby wasn’t going to grow out of that need, and would always rely solely on you for those most basic of support needs?
This is something that parents of severely autistic children do need to worry about and plan for. What do you do when your child needs you as much at 50 as she did at 5?
The article “ADVICE: Planning for an Autistic Child’s Adult Years” focuses on that very question, and provides help and answers to parents who are trying to make a smooth transition from caring for an autistic child to caring for an autistic adult. This author makes a number of excellent financial recommendations, including signing up for government benefits, looking into long term care insurance, and creating a Special Needs Trust.
“If you have significant assets, consult a financial planner or estate lawyer who can help you set up a Supplemental Needs or Special Needs Trust that will specifically address how your child can benefit from your bequeathal without compromising any governmental aid.”
This sentence is probably the best advice you can get, but the phrase “significant assets” is a little misleading. Special Needs or Supplemental Needs trusts are not just for the wealthy. If you have a house you have “significant assets”. If you have life insurance policies for yourself or your spouse you have “significant assets”. When you’re talking about government benefits, “significant assets” is any amount that will make your child ineligible for those benefits, which can be as little as $2,000! Creating a Special Needs Trust with a portion of your legacy may serve to preserve your child’s public benefits and thus enhance his or her standard of living, as your child may then be the beneficiary of BOTH public benefits AND distributions from the Special Needs Trust. Public benefits and private funding can work together for the benefit of your special needs child, provided that your bequest to that child is properly structured.
We know you want to provide for your special needs child at any age. Call our office and let us help.
Special Needs Trust May Prolong Life of Beneficiary
December 4, 2008
Individuals with mental illnesses already have a number of unique challenges to face, and now Time Magazine tells us they have one more terrifying prospect, because, according to Time’s recent article by Kate Torgovnick “on average, people with severe mental illness die 25 years younger than the rest of the population.”
There are many contributing factors to this shocking figure, but one of the main reasons the article gives is that “people with serious mental illness tend to be low on the socioeconomic totem pole and don’t often get the best available health care.”
The real tragedy in this scenario is that it doesn’t have to be this way. With the right planning—either by the individual in question or by loving friends and family—someone with a serious mental illness could still have access to the best medical care. And a special needs trust complete with provisions for an advocate or an advisory committee will provide the beneficiary with further protection; someone to ensure that his or her needs are being met, and any ailments are taken seriously by medical professionals.
With enough education and planning, perhaps we can improve the situations of those with mental illnesses… and change that shocking mortality rate as well.
Jinies.com