Children with disabilities have increased financial and care needs, so ensuring their long-term welfare can be tricky. Proper planning by parents is necessary to benefit the child with a disability, including an adult child, as well as assist any siblings who may be left with the caretaking responsibility. These six pointers can ensure you’ve taken the steps necessary to protect your family.
1. Set up a trust. Any funds left for a child with special needs, whether from an estate or the proceeds of a life insurance policy, should be held in trust for his or her benefit. Leaving money outright for anyone with a special need jeopardizes public benefits. Many people with special needs cannot manage funds — especially large amounts. Some families disinherit children with special needs, relying on their siblings to care for them. This approach is fraught with potential problems. Siblings can be sued, get divorced, disagree on their responsibilities, or run off with the funds. It can also cause tax problems for the siblings. The best approach is a trust fund set aside for the child with special needs.
There are three main types of special needs trusts: first party trusts; third party trusts; and pooled trusts. Each have their own set of rules and instances when they are appropriate. An experienced, certified elder law attorney will be able to review your situation and best advise which of these trusts is appropriate in your case.
2. Buy enough life insurance. Not everyone has a large chunk of money that can be left to a special needs trust, so life insurance can be an essential tool. If you’ve established a special needs trust, a life insurance policy can pay directly into it, and it does not have to go through probate or be subject to estate tax. Be sure to review the beneficiary designation to make sure it names the trust, not the child.
You should make sure you have enough insurance to pay for your child’s care long after you are gone. Without proper funding, the burden of care may fall on siblings or other family members. Using a life insurance policy will also guarantee future funding for the trust while keeping the parents’ estate intact for other family members. When looking for life insurance, consider a second-to-die policy. This type of policy only pays out after the second parent dies, and it has the benefit of lower premiums than regular life insurance policies.
3. Create a will and appoint a guardian. While a will and the appointment of a guardian is important for anyone with minor children, it is doubly so if the child has special needs. Finding the right guardian can be difficult. In some cases, the care needs of the child may be so demanding that he or she will need a different guardian from his or her siblings. The parents need to make these determinations while they can. The will is the vehicle for the appointment of a guardian.
An adult child may also require a guardian when the parent can no longer serve in this role (whether officially appointed or not). It will probably not be legally possible to officially appoint a successor guardian once the parent is out of the picture. So, it may make sense to begin making the transition to a new guardian while the parent is able to assist in the process. This can be in the form of a co-guardianship, or passing the baton to a successor guardian.
4. Review your beneficiary designations. Make sure to review your beneficiary designations on investment accounts, retirement accounts and other life insurance policies. Make sure that the beneficiary names the trust, and not the child.
5. Write down the care plan. All parents caring for children with special needs are advised to write down what any successor caregiver would need to know about the child and what the parent’s wishes are for his or her care. Should the child be in a group home, live with a parent, be on his or her own? Usually, the parent knows best, but needs to pass on the information. The memo or letter can be kept in the attorney’s files with the parent’s estate plan.
6. Coordinate with other family members. Even a carefully developed plan can be sabotaged by a well-meaning relative who leaves money directly to the child with a special need. If a trust is created for the benefit of the child, grandparents and other family members should be told about it so that they can direct any bequest they may like to leave to that child through the trust.
Get Help With Your Plan
However you decide to provide for a child with special needs, proper planning is essential. Talk to an experienced, certified elder law attorney to determine the best plan for your family.
