You already know as a parent of child with special needs that you need to look to the future with care. If you’re no longer able to around to help support a child with special needs, things in your child’s life could become very difficult. It’s natural to want to plan ahead, but you should know that the way you do this can have big ramifications for your future. Mistakes made could cost your loved one government benefits. 

Planning ahead for a child with a disability is extremely important for any parent who finds themselves in a position of looking to the future. A carefully constructed trust known as a supplemental special needs trust can help your child not just now but well into the future. This can allow your child to receive necessary funds for his or her lifestyle, without jeopardizing critical government benefits like supplemental security income and Medicaid.

For friends and extended family, this is an additional way to help provide care if something happens to you and you are no longer able to support them. Families that are in a difficult financial situation may delay putting together a trust, thinking that if they have no money to contribute currently, that they don’t need to do so. However, a supplemental special needs trust could be made the beneficiary of your estate and your life insurance policy, ensuring that those assets are not transferred immediately to the child when you pass away, which could jeopardize his or her ability to receive those critical government benefits.

Estate planning and financial planning, particularly as it relates to special needs children, is not expensive and can be carefully constructed with the help of an attorney.