Planning for the Future

One of my goals with this blog is to share lessons learned with other parents of children with special needs. While I’m certainly not as experienced as some parents, our family has been through certain challenges and taken advantage of certain opportunities and by sharing our experience we can potentially help other families. As Patrick and I venture on a kids-free vacation to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, I’m grateful we took the step to work with an attorney on estate planning this past summer. Estate planning is an important process for any parent, but for parents with children with special needs it’s even more important. First, let me say, I’m not a lawyer, so my words are not meant to be legal advice, they are however, special needs mom advice.

Shortly after our oldest, Aubrey, was born we created wills leaving everything to our children upon our death. If we had other children we wouldn’t even need to revise the wills because it specified our assets would be divided equally among our children – current and future. We were on top of things, but then we weren’t. In fact, the wills we had created prior to Emelyn’s birth could have hurt Emelyn. Why you ask? Doesn’t Emelyn need money to live as she grows and develops into adulthood? While she does need money, she needs it in a different format than a typically developing child.

Armed with this new knowledge, we set out on the estate planning process again. Let me first recommend finding a local attorney who specializes in special needs trusts. Don’t take chances on your child’s future with an attorney who dabbles in special needs estate planning or worse, go online to a fill-in-the-blank service. Your child’s future is at stake! Schedule a consultation and discuss your unique situation – I can guarantee your situation is like no one else’s.

For our family, our attorney recommended creating several legal documents that all work together. By creating our trust, pour over wills, powers of attorney, and medical directives at once, we ensure there are no contradictions, eliminating the possibility of confusion. And, of course, as life changes (and the laws), we’ll need to revisit these documents to ensure everything is still up-to-date.

If you need a reason to explore this process, here are my top five:

1. If your child currently receives government benefits or could receive government benefits in the future, such as Medicaid and/or waiver services, and/or Social Security income (SSI), they must have very little in the way of assets to qualify. An inheritance as little as $5,000 could potentially cause a disruption to these benefits. And don’t just consider what they could inherit from you, consider grandparents and other relatives. They, too, may need some revisions to their wills and/or estate plans.
2. You designate what the money is used for and who you want to administer expenditures so you know your child is taken care of even after you’re not around.
3. In the unfortunate circumstances of your untimely death, you designate the person or people who will care for your child(ren) after you’re not around. Who would you prefer decide, you or the court system?
4. You can protect your typically developing child(ren) through the process. A trust for typically developing children can have many benefits as well.
5. You can examine your financial situation. Do you have enough life insurance for example? And who is the beneficiary? Again, you likely don’t want it to be your child(ren) specifically, but the trust(s) you’ve established.

I will tell you estate planning is not a fun subject and it’s not cheap, but it’s the best money you can spend to protect your child(ren) upon your death, be it untimely or many, many years from now. And if you’re a planner like me, you can enjoy a kids-free trip even more knowing you’ve taken steps to protect family.