You created your revocable living trust to hold your assets. You did so because of the probate avoidance and other benefits. You may have included sophisticated tax-planning provisions in your trust.
When something is tailored to one’s needs, everything can go smoother.
An applicable multi-beneficiary trust can solve some--but not all--of the challenges that the new act presents.
It is critical that parents and grandparents give careful thought to any gift of money or bequest in an estate plan, when the recipient has special needs.
We may think of a spoiled heiress to a large fortune, whose parents were savvy enough to prevent her from having full access to her funds. On the other hand, we could imagine a loved one with special needs, whose needs will be provided for with trust-protected money.
Estate planning documents often are treated like the photocopied permission slip for a child’s field trip. You fill in your name, include the children’s names and dates of birth and sign. The document is filed away to be used if needed, but you really never expect it to be used.
Both the state and federal government, administered through the Social Security Administration (SSA) and Medicaid provide disabled individuals with a variety of life enhancing, and sometimes life sustaining, public benefits.
Have you resolved to get your estate planning done at last or perhaps updated? Good for you. Here’s what you’ll need to do, and, just as importantly, what you don’t need to do.
The most common question faced by special needs parents and caregivers is, ‘What will happen to them, if I am not here?’
Special needs lawyers can work with clients to set up individualized special needs trusts.
