Planning for Your Special Needs Child

According to the Census Bureau, more than 56 million Americans have some type of disability.  For parents who have a child with a disability, the fear is, “What happens when we’re gone?”  One answer is to set up a trust for the child. 

While the idea seems simple, only 21 percent of parents with special-needs kids say they are familiar with the planning steps, many families avoiding the process altogether.  Yet once parents start planning they feel much more relieved, “The parents feel a lot more confident with the day-to-day challenges, knowing that they have this.” 

One significant aspect of a special-needs trust is that it allows families to prepare funds for children with a disability while maintaining eligibility for government benefits as Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid.  Leaving money outright or naming children as the beneficiary of insurance policies can disqualify them from receiving benefits. 

See Cherice Chen, Protecting Special Needs Kids Financially, USA Today, Aug. 23, 2014.