The challenge of caring for a disabled or special needs family member can be rewarding, but also exhausting financially and emotionally.
By establishing a special needs trust, you can provide additional financial support for your elderly parents, disabled children or other loved ones without affecting their government support. A special needs trust can help you enhance your family member’s quality of life without risking their other benefits.
The Many Benefits
Properly prepared special needs trusts have many advantages.
- The trust will not affect the disabled person’s rights to benefits such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Medicaid
- Assets may be added throughout your lifetime
- The trust can be funded through the distribution of your estate, such as the funds from a life insurance policy
- The special needs trust may include guidelines on how the distributions should be used such as specific therapy treatments, transportation activities, education, or quality-of-life expenditures (entertainment, vacations, etc.)
Plan Ahead
A special needs trust is one of the best estate planning tools for managing the assets and income of a disabled individual. But the trust should be carefully constructed by a knowledgeable estate planning lawyer.
We will help review the two types of special need trusts:
- Third-party special needs trust. The assets funding this trust come from a third party such as a parent or grandparent. An appointed trustee makes the distributions. No other family member can access or benefit from the trust. The trust can be established while you are alive or upon your death.
- Self-settled special needs trust. This preserves the assets of a person with a disability. The assets may include any proceeds of a personal injury lawsuit.
Prepare Now
Special Needs Estate Planning focuses on providing for the needs of our loved ones with disabilities when we are no longer there to advocate on their behalf.
At the Voeller Law Firm in San Antonio, we give extra special attention to families that are struggling with these issues. To learn more, contact us today to schedule a free consultation at (210) 651-3851 and we will help you achieve peace of mind for your loved one with special needs.
