Providing for Special Needs with Comprehensive Estate Planning
Being the parent or guardian of a person with special needs requires a great deal of understanding, patience, and planning. You’ve had to ensure they get the necessary support, from negotiating with their Hilliard Schools for appropriate educational plans to applying for government benefits. Looking after someone with developmental or physical challenges is no trivial task. The need for such care doesn’t end when you’re unable to provide it. Whether due to death or incapacity, there may come a day when you can’t look after your loved one, which is why devising a special needs estate plan is important to secure your loved one’s future.
In estate planning, special needs is a broad category of documents and tools to protect individuals with a range of physical disabilities, medical conditions, intellectual difficulties, or emotional problems, including learning difficulties and behavioral problems. The experienced estate planning attorneys at Jarvis Law Office understand the unique challenges facing families caring for a special needs child or adult, and we will guide you through the process of protecting their future with a special needs trust.
The Particulars of Crafting a Thorough Special Needs Estate Plan
Your special needs dependent may not be able to stand up for themselves after your demise. Particular care must go into crafting an estate plan. Therefore, it’s important to record your wishes and gather all pertinent documents in a file box that can be easily found. It’s never too soon to get this information in order and start a comprehensive estate planning process. When you sit down with our special needs estate planning attorney, we’ll ensure your file has the following:
- Guardianship documents naming the person or people appointed to care for the child or disabled person when you can’t.
- Important legal documents, such as birth certificates, Social Security cards, medical records, prescriptions, and health insurance cards.
- A Letter of Intent, a non-binding document that gives vital information about the child with special needs to his or her future caregivers. This can be details like your child’s sleeping preferences, eating habits and favorite foods, activities and hobbies, and other things that impact his or her routine.
- Copies of your own advanced health care and financial directives such as powers of attorney, living wills, and health care proxies.
- A list of major assets such as insurance policies, investments, and bank accounts, and information about where they are located.
- A list of government benefits your child may receive, as well as copies of completed applications and contact information for caseworkers with whom you have worked.
- Other documentation, like tax returns for your child and information about housing and educational programs to assist future caregivers.
- Copies of special needs trusts, living, or insurance trusts that may be in effect.
This file will need to be updated regularly to allow for changes in your dependent’s age, skills, and living situation.
Understanding the Reasons for Establishing a Special Needs Trust
The reasons for establishing a special needs trust are many. For example, your child, thanks to their disability and lack of financial assets, likely qualifies for various government benefits to assist with their care and health needs. However, if you were to die and leave your assets to them, thinking you’re providing the financial support they need, it could inadvertently lead to more harm by making them ineligible for important government benefits.
Establishing a special needs trust can enhance your dependent child’s future quality of life without affecting their access to important benefits. In fact, you can take advantage of a special needs trust even during your lifetime. You can use money from this type of trust to:
- Cover out-of-pocket medical expenses
- Pay for additional assistance in the home
- Purchase assistive devices that are not covered by Medicaid
- Cover the cost of private tutoring or other educational programs
- Pay for life-enhancing activities such as theme park admission, movies, athletic teams, vacations, and more
Your child will not lose access to these need-based government benefits as long as the trust money is not used to pay for medical care, food, and housing.
Don’t hesitate. Contact Jarvis Law Office to get started today.
A special needs estate planning attorney can help you plan for the future and make life better for your child with special needs now. Contact us today to talk about how we can help you. The future holds a lot of uncertainty, but your child’s care doesn’t have to be one of them.
