Estate planning for adults with special needs

Adults with special needs have unique requirements when it comes to planning for the future. Millions of adults are affected by physical, cognitive, and other health issues. Making sure that loved ones have everything they need is an essential part of estate planning.

Chronic health conditions that impact the needs of adults call for ongoing care and resources. Estate planning provides you with the peace of mind in knowing that all of your loved one’s needs are taken care of for life. 

Concerns Related to Special Needs

Families of adults with special needs have concerns that estate planning can address. For example, many health care programs are impacted by legislation that reduces funding by eliminating care services. 


This makes it difficult for families to plan for the long-term care of their loved ones. Through proper planning, you can prevent the loss of health services by making decisions related to the care and financial wellbeing of an adult with special needs.

Asset distribution must be carefully considered, and in some cases, adults with special needs may not have the capacity to make financial decisions.

In other cases, you’ll need to establish future care. This can involve the need for assisted living, home care, and other services. Benefits from Medicaid and Social Security must also be considered. 

Estate planning achieves many objectives for adults with special needs and their families. Most important of all, it ensures a high quality of life for your loved one. 

Strategic Estate Planning for Adults With Special Needs

A special needs trust can be used to provide for family members. They must often last for long periods of time depending on the age of the beneficiary and require you to consider the right ways to implement them. 

The primary objective is to make decisions that support the best interests of your family member while establishing a plan for future changes in health needs, benefits, and services.

The trustee should understand all of the tax and fiduciary requirements that exist when planning for an adult with special needs. Investments can be utilized to provide returns over time so that the beneficiary has a secure financial future.

Planning for the Future

An estate planning professional helps you determine the best options for your needs. Planning for special needs can impact your tax and investment decisions. 

Investments can present risk, and losing assets through poor investing can affect the wellbeing of an adult with special needs.

Trustees must ensure that the beneficiary can receive income distributions in a way that doesn’t interfere with public benefits that are received. 

There are a number of ways to accomplish this while minimizing any taxes that may be applied when distributing funds to the recipient. 

Your estate planning attorney helps you prevent issues that occur when beneficiaries are disqualified for receiving Social Security and other benefits. A trust can also be protected from attempts to seize funds by the government or other organization.

If an adult with special needs receives funds from a public program, income distributions can be restricted so they are not used for similar purchases.

Having a skilled professional help you manage your trust ensures that all assets are distributed and used according to your wishes. This makes it easy to work with healthcare providers and other services to maintain the quality of ongoing care.

Estate planning protects adults with special needs and allows family members to prepare for any changes over time. Understanding what factors to consider maximizes the benefits that your loved ones will receive now and in the future. 

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Kevin Tharpe

With 25 years of experience, Kevin understands how estate planning, special needs planning, and government benefits programs work together. This is a crucial element of a thorough plan. He explains your eligibility for benefits programs and ensures that you do not make costly mistakes that may disqualify you or deplete your assets.

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