Special Needs Trusts

The early withdrawal penalty has been very effective at forcing retirement plan owners to keep money in their retirement accounts, but if a retirement account owner becomes disabled, the IRS will waive the 10 percent early withdrawal penalty.

Because access to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) depends on a beneficiary's income and resources, even small increases in income can cause a reduction or loss of SSI benefits. Unfortunately, when an SSI beneficiary's parent is ordered to pay child support,...

A California mother recently went to great lengths to obtain an inheritance from her deceased son's special needs trust, but a court decided that her attempt went too far and awarded half of the trust to the woman's ex-husband, even...

A bill recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would finally allow military retirees to name special needs trusts as beneficiaries of Survivor Benefit Plans, a change that could dramatically improve the lives of military children with disabilities.

Doctors recommend annual physicals, but did you know that your special needs plan should be reviewed with your attorney at least as often?...

Attorneys who focus on special needs planning have dedicated their practices to helping families with a wide variety of legal issues, and they must master a vast section of the legal canon in order to properly assist their clients. Here's...

You may not want to leave any of the money in your estate directly to a relative with special needs, but the fine print in your estate planning documents might cause a catastrophic distribution anyway.

After fighting for over forty years to make sure that Richard is taken care of, a Colorado woman now has to plan for his future in case something happens to her.