Special Needs Planning

Special Needs Estate Planning Lawyers Help Ensure Your Child Will Always Be Cared For

While every parent hopes their child or children will be able to make their own way in the world even if we cannot leave them anything, for children with special needs, this is simply not an option. Careful and effective estate planning is thus more essential than ever for parents and families with one or more children with special needs. 

Should you have a child with special needs, you will need to plan ahead to understand your options and set up systems to care for your special needs child should you become unable to do so. Our special needs estate planning lawyers are experts in both navigating benefits laws and setting up trusts to ensure your child will be properly cared for.

Navigating State Benefits For Massachusetts Special Needs Estate Planning Law

Here in Ashland Massachusetts we are fortunate to live in a state and country with significant and extremely helpful public benefits for special needs children and individuals. Unfortunately, these government benefits can significantly complicate the estate planning required for special needs children. 

Needs-based benefits always take into account the wealth, assets, and income of the person who is seeking or receiving them. As a result, should you leave a substantial inheritance for your special needs children, this might complicate, or outright remove, their ability to receive public funds.

While this may not seem like a problem for every family, it is difficult to predict how the future will treat your, or your children’s, financial situation. Thinking ahead for just such eventualities is the job of your estate planning attorney, and we can help you ensure that your special needs child will be cared for in any eventually. 

Your Massachusetts Estate Planning Attorney Can Help You Set Up A Special Needs Trust

One strategy for ensuring your special needs child will always receive the resources and care they need, is to set up a third-party supplemental special needs trust. This estate planning tool is used to put money aside that can be used to provide for, or supplement, their needs, but is not in their name. 

Because it is held by the trustee, the government will not take these assets into account when calculating benefits from social security, Medicaid, MassHealth, or other programs. As a result, such a special needs trust safely ensures your special needs child can begin or continue to receive the benefits they need while also providing additional funding to provide additional care, assistance, or a safety net should laws or eligibility change.

A special needs trust attorney will be able to help you plan ahead for, set up, and manage such a special needs trust for your child. And here at Cali Law, it will be our privilege to help you do so. 

What Should I Do If My Special Needs Child Has Inherited From Someone Else?

Sometimes a well-intentioned relative may leave a considerable sum or property to one of your special needs children or relatives as a way to help care for them. Unfortunately, if they did not work carefully with special needs estate planning experts, this can destabilize or undermine your child’s access to Medicaid or other state benefits. 

When this does occur, estate planning can still help, if done by a Massachusetts attorney with experience dealing with both special needs and public benefits like Medicaid. 

Now Is The Right Time To Start Your Special Needs Estate Planning

Regardless of how old you or your special needs child are, it is never too early to start planning for how they will be taken care of should you pass away. But it can all too quickly become too late. Do not delay and reach out to a qualified and experienced team of special needs estate planning attorneys near you to begin this essential process.