(Pictured: Mother and Child, A Goodnight Hug by Mary Cassatt, 1880)
Parents with special-needs children are often concerned about providing for their children when they are gone. They want to make sure there will be enough money to care for their special-needs children for their lifetime. But just leaving them a large inheritance is not enough if they also receive public benefits. In fact, they could lose those benefits, if the proper estate plan is not in place.
With the proper estate plan in place, your special-needs child can keep their public benefits and still receive a large inheritance. This is accomplished with a special-needs trust.
A special-needs trust is a type of trust that enables people with special needs to continue receiving public benefits after they have received a large inheritance or even a large settlement.
These types of trusts have very specific rules that must be complied with in order to enable the special-needs child to continue receiving public benefits. If you need a special-needs trust for your child, please contact an estate-planning attorney to set it up. You've worked hard to secure that settlement or inheritance for your child and their public benefits—you don't have to risk them losing any of it, if you have a good plan in place.