Estate Planning

Often, parents of children with special needs don't consider creating a special needs trust until their child turns 18 or sometimes even later, when the child requires government benefits like Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). But special needs trusts...

Two estate planning attorneys have written a highly readable overview of the fundamentals every family needs to consider when planning for the future of a person with special needs.

An overlooked portion of recent Medicare legislation promises Medicare recipients greater access to mental health benefits.

An inheritance from parents who fund their child's special needs trust by will rather than by revocable living trust is in the public record. Predators are particularly attracted to vulnerable beneficiaries, such as the young and those with limited self-protective...

When you add a special needs trust to a financial aid calculation, things can get complicated because the regulations governing federal financial aid don't do a very good job of distinguishing special needs trusts from other types of trusts.

In some cases, the donor of a special needs trust may want to provide an extra level of assistance to the trust's beneficiary by naming a trust adviser to assist the trustee with trust management. ...

In the first part of a two-part series, we explore initial steps for trustees to take when it comes time to terminate a special needs trust.

A recent case from California illustrates what can happen when good intentions go awry and you rely on a generic estate plan to distribute funds to a relative with special needs.