Preparing for The Future when Your Child Has Special Needs

Parents of special needs children typically have a wide range of goals related to their kids’ future. One thing that can have major impacts on the future of such children is whether they get the education, medical, therapy and care services they need, both in childhood and adulthood.

These services can be expensive. Also, individuals with special needs sometimes face income challenges in their adult years. So, among the worries parents of special needs kids may have is whether their children will have the financial resources they need in adulthood.

So, such parents may want to set up mechanisms for providing resources for their children in the future in their estate plan. However, it can be important for such parents to exercise care in how they provide for their special needs kids in their estate plan.

One reason for this is the important role government benefits can play for individuals with special needs. These benefits have complex eligibility rules. Transfers of resources to individuals with special needs, if not handled correctly, could cause a loss of eligibility for benefits.

So, avoiding benefits disqualification is among the many complex issues it can be important for parents to factor in when it comes to what they do for their special needs children in their estate plans. There are estate planning tools, such as special needs trusts, which can help with avoiding the problem of benefits disqualification. Parents can go to estate planning attorneys for guidance on what strategies would be best-suited for helping them meet their goals for helping support their special needs children in the future.