Thirteen Estate Planning Tips for Beneficiaries with Special Needs

Estate planning for individuals that have children or other types of beneficiaries with disabilities is wrought with extra layers of complexity. Those individuals are usually primary caretakers for their loved ones and worry about who will take care of them after the caretaker has passed away. Here are tips on what to do to make the caretaker’s death an easier transition for the person with disabilities.

• Draft a Letter of Intent to lay out instructions for trustees, guardians, and other’s about the special needs person’s likes, dislikes, habits, routines, etc.
• Start a Special Needs Trust (SNT), or sometimes called a Supplemental Needs Trust, for the loved one’s benefit during the caretaker’s lifetime rather than their will.
• Avoid court-appointed management and caretakers.
• Consider allotting more funds for the beneficiary with the special needs to other beneficiaries that may not have the same requirements.
• Consider life insurance to adequately fund the SNT especially if the family is newer and the beneficiary with disabilities is young.

More tips can be found in the article.

See Robert M. Freedman & Alexis R. Gruttadauria, Thirteen Estate Planning Tips for Beneficiaries with Special Needs, Wealth Management, May 9, 2018.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.) for bringing this article to my attention.