SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST FOR CHILDREN (AT ANY AGE) WITH DISABILITIES

special needs trustJoseph McHugh (Joe), a dedicated California Special Needs Trust Attorney, is committed to helping families protect loved ones and assets by creating the right type of Special Needs Trust for each family situation. We welcome you to call for a free consultation: (818) 241-4238

Parents always want the best protection for their children no matter how old their children are! Joe and his team are here to help and to do it the most cost-effective way possible for California parents to protect “their babies” when they are gone! If you have a loved one who has a disability (i.e., Multiple Sclerosis. Parkinsons,) or has Special Needs care (i.e., Mental Disability, Down’s Syndrome, Autism), you do not need to disinherit that person. You can leave assets to help them with their quality of life after you are gone!

You can provide for them to improve the quality of their life and care by leaving them an inheritance in a Special Needs Trust. There is a legal way to plan for them and not affect the beneficiary’s entitlement to government benefits such as Medi-Cal and SSI and simultaneously create a system for proper management of the inheritance.

A special needs trust can protect the beneficiary’s inheritance. The person who wants to leave the inheritance (i.e., parent, grandparent, sibling) should consult with an elder law attorney to determine whether the special needs trust should be created in a Revocable Trust. It may not be necessary to create a stand-alone special needs trust… you may be able to restate your current revocable living trust and it will set up a special needs trust upon your death. Our elder law attorney, Joe McHugh will help you to decide:

  • Who do you want to serve as the primary Trustee of the special needs trust?
  • Who do you want to be the alternate Trustee if the primary Trustee becomes sick, incapacitated, dies, or resigns?
  • Do you want the special needs trust Trustee to be compensated for their time and service? If so, do you want the Trustee to be paid an hourly rate, a set sum, or a percentage of the value of the trust?
  • When the beneficiary dies… Who (person or charity) will inherit the remaining trust assets?
  • When the person creating the special needs, trust does not have a legal duty to support the beneficiary, there is no legal obligation to repay the Medicaid agency from the trust when the beneficiary dies.

Before talking to our attorney, it is helpful for you to have the following information available:

  • Relationship to the beneficiary.
  • Proof of age of the beneficiary.
  • Current address and telephone number for the beneficiary or the person who has legal authority to make decisions for the beneficiary.
  • An idea of which assets or what sum/percentage you wish to leave to this beneficiary’s special needs trust.
  • Proof of government benefits (i.e., Medi-Cal notice, SSI benefit notice).

Many of our clients are aging parents in their 80’s with disabled children now in their 50s or 60s. By having a Special Needs Trust properly set up, our clients can rest assured that their adult children will be cared with their trust assets to best planning possible after their death.

We are proud to help families carefully plan the best way to protect public benefits eligibility, as well as to ensure a trusted responsible person will be assigned as the trustee (Manager of assets in the Special Needs Trust) throughout the life of a person that cannot manage their own finances..

It is critical that you consult with a Special Needs Trust Attorney that has an expertise in Special Needs Planning for your loved ones. We specialize in the specific area of California and Federal laws that concentrate on protecting many public benefits and financial management for people with special needs and at the same time helping provide a higher quality of life with the assets help for their benefit in a Special Needs Trust or Supplement Needs Trust set up by a parent or grandparent (within their living trust by having our attorney create a Restatement of their Trust!).

YOU MAY NOT NEED A STAND-ALONE SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST… IF YOU ARE SUPPORTING FOR YOUR CHILD UNTIL YOUR DEATH! WE CREATE A SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST… EMBEDDED IN A LIVING TRUST!

There is a little-known fact in that special needs families do not know! YOU MAY NOT NEED A SEPARATE SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST! We specialize in helping families protect their children and save money (money is always much needed in a family with a special need child). We create a revocable living trust that has a Special Needs Trust buried in the legal language of that trust. It will say that when the grantor (parents) dies, the share of the estate that is go to the loved one with disabilities shall be held in a special needs trust for the benefit of that child. In most cases if there is no expected money to come to the child with disabilities. there is no need to set up a totally different Special Needs Trust and pay the extra money for it. We do not change extra in our Living Trust package to include special needs trusts language.

When you set up your own Living Trust Documents, it is important to carefully establish protection for your special needs loved one by identifying in your trust, that their inheritance be distributed into a Special Needs Trust upon your death.

We also can change your living trust through creating a restatement of your current living trust to legally “embed” the Special Needs trust language in that trust to protect your child. This is a very cost-effective way of updating your documents to include special needs protection for when you are no longer here!

In our planning, you are paying for one family trust…not for that and a separate Special Needs Trust. In many cases we deal with families that do not have extra money to set up a separate Special Needs Trust but want to protect their special needs child after the parents are gone. Many of our families were so grateful that we offered this option.

The federal laws dealing with a Special Needs Trust are a bit complex, and not something to be set up on Legalzoom.com or through an attorney that does not have experience and training in the exact legal process required ensuring a special needs person is protected and remains qualified for government or public benefit programs.
 

How Can I Protect My Special Needs Child’s Public Benefits & Allow Family To Gift Money?

special-needs-child-public-benefitsAs a protective parent or grandparent (or other family member) you will always care for and provide for your special needs loved ones during your lifetime, but it is very important that you consider long-term care and financial support for them upon your death. In a Living Trust, we help you to identify what assets are to be distributed to disabled loved ones and make sure a trusted person will be assigned to take over the care and financial protection of this disabled family member by controlling a Special Needs Trust as the trustee.

If you are lucky enough to be expecting money to come to your special needs loved one from family or friends, we can help a parent or grandparent set up a stand-alone Special Needs Trust (“for the benefit of”) and help you set up a financial account for the money or other assets to be gifted. The parents or grandparents can be the trustee(s) and manage that account and assign a successor for when they no longer wish to be trustee.

Our Special Needs Trust Attorney, Joe McHugh can help you provide for and protect your special needs child or loved one. We can help you feel secure that your child will be taken care of and live as independently as possible in the family home or other comfortable environment with as much financial support you can offer as their inheritance.

PLEASE NOTE!

  • We are passionate about helping parents protect their families and especially special needs loved ones.
  • If you’re a child with disabilities is under the age of 18, it is critical for you to register this child with the California Regional Center in your area!
  • This ensures more potential benefits for the rest of their adult life. It also may allow them to qualify for ABLE accounts in the future!
  • You will not be disappointed for spending time to talk to us about how to set up a special needs trust!

After a thorough review of the best strategies for your special needs’ situation and our fees for the scope of work, we will structure a comprehensive trust created specifically to give you (or your loved one) the best care possible, while protecting your assets and their financial care and government benefits.

Our Law Firm is centrally located in Burbank (Southern California); however, our Special Needs Attorney, Joe McHugh and his wife Kathy McHugh, Legal Triage Director serve many clients throughout the state using phone calls, Zoom, emails and FedEx to accomplish the setup of each trust. Many clients never have to leave their home and just need a mobile notary to come to your home to notarize the trust documents.

Call for consultation: (818) 241-4238. Or you can submit this form to request a consultation.