Why Families with Special Needs Require Tailored Estate Planning?
Families caring for loved ones with special needs face unique legal and financial challenges that require a well-structured estate plan. Individuals with special needs may have physical disabilities, mental health conditions, cognitive impairments, or emotional and behavioral disorders that reduce or eliminate their ability to manage their own affairs. Estate planning for such individuals is crucial for ensuring their long-term care while protecting their access to essential government benefits like Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
Physical Disabilities: Adults with physical disabilities often require long-term healthcare, assistance with daily living activities, and may be unable to manage their own financial and legal affairs.
Mental Illnesses: Conditions such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder can impair judgment, leading to the need for a trusted guardian or agent to manage finances and make healthcare decisions.
Cognitive Impairments: Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia affect decision-making ability. Estate plans should designate a durable power of attorney and establish trusts to protect assets while ensuring eligibility for benefits.
Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: Anxiety or PTSD may affect a person’s ability to handle stressful situations, necessitating a legal structure to ensure that their affairs are handled properly.
By incorporating legal tools like Special Needs Trusts (SNTs), Healthcare Proxies, Guardianship Designations, and Durable Power of Attorney, a Special Needs Estate Plan ensures that your loved one’s financial resources are protected, without affecting their eligibility for public benefits. Additionally, it establishes a clear structure for managing healthcare, personal, and financial decisions, providing long-term security and peace of mind for both the individual and their family.
Challenges Faced by Families with Special Needs
- Protecting Government Benefits: Adults with special needs often rely on SSI, Medicaid, or other public benefits for their healthcare and daily needs. Exceeding asset limits could result in losing these crucial resources.
- Complex Medical and Financial Decision-Making: Many adults with special needs require assistance in managing both medical and financial affairs. It’s essential to appoint the right people to take over these responsibilities if necessary.
- Long-Term Care and Housing: Finding the right care for adults with disabilities can be expensive and complex. Proper estate planning ensures that funds are available to cover long-term care needs while safeguarding their independence and quality of life.
What's Included
- First-Party SNT: For adults who have received settlements or inheritances that might impact their eligibility for benefits. These funds are placed in the trust to protect benefit eligibility.
- Third-Party SNT: Funded by family members to ensure their loved one has the financial resources needed without impacting public assistance.
We can help set up ABLE accounts, which allow adults with disabilities to save money tax-free for qualified expenses such as education, housing, and healthcare, without affecting government benefits.
A Financial Power of Attorney allows the appointed agent to manage the principal’s financial affairs. This document is essential when someone becomes unable to handle their own finances due to illness, injury, or absence. The agent has legal authority to make decisions on behalf of the principal regarding their financial matters, ensuring that their bills are paid, investments managed, and assets protected.
A Healthcare Power of Attorney grants the agent the authority to make medical decisions on behalf of the principal when they are unable to do so. This includes decisions about treatments, surgeries, life-sustaining measures, and even end-of-life care. It’s an essential document for ensuring that your healthcare wishes are respected if you become incapacitated.
A healthcare directive, often referred to as an advance healthcare directive or living will, is a legal document that outlines your preferences for medical treatment in situations where you are unable to communicate or make decisions for yourself. The directive provides instructions to your healthcare providers and loved ones, ensuring that your wishes are honored even if you cannot express them directly.
By signing a HIPAA Authorization, the principal ensures that the appointed healthcare agent can access their medical records, speak to healthcare professionals, and fully understand the medical information necessary to make decisions.
This document ensures that a designated individual or professional is appointed to make important decisions for the adult with special needs, covering personal, medical, and financial matters.
Planning for the future includes ensuring that your loved one has access to high-quality, long-term care. Our plan addresses housing, medical care, and daily support needs.