Special Trusts for Special Needs Children

Setting up trusts for special needs children is a specialized area that many financial advisers do not have much experience with. Most parents of special needs children have a lot on their minds already with the everyday needs of the children and they are not planning long term either.

Metlife currently has about 200 special needs planners within their National Center for Special Needs Planning. Metlife has a website where families can calculate an estimate of how much money they’ll need for their special needs children.

One of the big mistakes that parents can make is giving their children assets that exceed eligibility limits, which disqualifies their children from government benefits. Even if parents don’t need government benefits for their children, they could still keep their children eligible so they can take advantage of government funded training programs. Other helpful advice includes starting planning early and making special needs trusts independently of other trust purposes.

See Jerilyn Klein Bier, Advisors Help Parents of Special Needs Children Tackle Unique Planning Challenges, Financial Advisor Magazine, March 2011.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (WealthCounsel) for bringing this article to my attention.