A Quick Guide to Setting Up a Special Needs Trust

A special needs trust is an important component of how you protect a loved one who is reliant on government benefits such as Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid. Tapping into these benefits while still providing for your loved one can be done through a special needs trust.

You’ll want to assemble a team of professionals including financial advisors and an estate planning attorney to ensure that the interested party’s needs are truly protected. A special needs trust allows parents or other interested family members to contribute funds for the benefit of a disabled party.

Recipients of these benefits cannot have any more than $2000 in assets, but special needs trust can also help to guard against financial abuse of a disabled person and to ensure the appropriate oversight so that the funds are spent wisely and on what the recipient truly needs.

Trusts can be funded by inheritances, life insurance policies that pay when one or both parents pass away, family assets or lawsuit awards.

Knowing that you have protected a loved one and left behind a plan that guards their current government benefits will give you great peace of mind and help get key family members on board.

For more questions about why and how to establish a special needs trust, consider a phone call with an experienced attorney. If you need to guard a loved one with special needs using a trust, our MI law office can assist you.