One of the tasks an estate lawyer in Tampa may handle is planning for a special needs adult child. Special needs adult children generally need ongoing care, including financial care, throughout their lives. To safely set aside assets for the child’s care, it’s often necessary for parents to work with an attorney to establish a Special Needs Trust (“SNT”). An SNT makes sure that your special needs child benefits from your estate without making them ineligible for SSI or Medicaid benefits.
Estate planning is complicated enough, but trying to do your best for your special needs child can make your head spin. Willing them a lump sum of money, property, or other wealth directly may disqualify them from SSI and Medicaid and puts in their hands assets they may not be able to properly handle. However, if you leave them nothing, then they’re without the financial security you’ve provided for your other children. If you give the assets you intend for your special needs child to their siblings for safekeeping, it legally becomes the siblings’ property. It won’t be protected from the siblings’ creditors, and it may be considered communal or joint property if the sibling is married when they receive it.
The best solution is to create a Special Needs Trust. A trust is an asset administered by a third-party trustee on behalf of a beneficiary. Anyone you choose, including one or more of your other children, can agree to be a trustee. The trustee doesn’t own the assets, and they can’t make decisions that are against the beneficiary’s interests. The money in the trust belongs to the trust and is spent solely on behalf of the beneficiary.
An estate lawyer in Tampa can create a third-party SNT for your special needs adult child. Assets in a third-party SNT come from someone other than the beneficiary. They aren’t used by the state of Florida to determine your child’s eligibility for SSI and Medicaid, either. This is because the beneficiary, your special needs child, doesn’t actually own the assets in the trust, so it isn’t considered a personal asset when determining eligibility for benefits. The trust helps to cover costs beyond what Medicaid and SSI provide, like dental care, transportation, and private nursing or care.
For example, a father has an estate lawyer create a third-party SNT for his special needs son who lives in an assisted living facility. Medicaid contributes nothing to the cost of assisted living, and SSI only covers a portion of the cost. The SNT, however, covers the rest of the cost. It also covers costs for things like dental cleanings, new clothes, and entertainment.
Our Tampa-area estate planning lawyers are experienced in creating third-party Special Needs Trusts and can help you create a plan for your child’s future. For help getting started with your planning, contact our Brandon law firm at (813) 438-8503 to set up a consultation.