Children with special needs require additional planning and care. Special needs children often require expensive care for the rest of their lives. Many parents may think that it will be beneficial to simply leave inheritance in their will to their child. Unfortunately, this can create more problems for individuals with special needs.
Many people living with disabilities and have special needs rely on Medicaid to help pay for their care. However, if a child has more than $2,000 in their name, he or she could be disqualified from receiving Medicaid and other government benefits like Supplemental Security Income and Medicare.
It is important for parents to know that they cannot just have their children rely on governmental benefits to care for their children once they are gone. This is because these benefits will not cover all of the expenses associated with the lifetime of care that individuals with special needs require.
What can parents do to help plan for their child’s care? Create a special needs trust. This trust can ensure that an unlimited amount of assets will be available for their child. Some parents may have the funds available to put in these trusts, but many parents rely on funding the special needs trust through a whole life insurance policy.
Since special needs children can only have so many assets in their name to qualify for benefits, it is important to remove them as beneficiaries on your life insurance, pension plans and other types of policies. While this may seem strange to remove your child as a beneficiary, it will actually help them in the long run, especially if you have a special needs trust set up.
Due to the complex nature of special needs planning, it is important to work with a skilled attorney to discuss all of your options and to make sure your planning goes as smoothly as possible.
