Special Needs Attorneys

By Denice Gierach

As published in the Naperville Sun - April 29, 2007

If you have a child with special needs, worry not understandable to take care of their needs while you are alive, but after you died. A disabled or special needs parent needs to find appropriate care and services, working with the child for independent living skills to the extent possible and to protect children against harm. This type of planning is to manage finances and make personal decisions in the event of disability or death of both parents. A handicapped child may need parents to make decisions that child to adulthood and the need to look ahead to future housing needs and find the appropriate caretaker for the children when they are unable to do.

Firstly, it should be noted that without proper estate planning, disabled or special needs children will inherit from his parents. Since the child is not capable of managing financial assets, it would probably require the appointment of a guardian Court. Such a guardian would have to request distributions to be made for the benefit of the child and report to the Court each year. In addition, if the child has inherited from his parents, the assets that the child is entitled to receive may prevent children from obtaining certain types of benefits without government aid assets are spent on their behalf before implement programs of government aid.

The area of government benefit programs is complex, the child may be entitled to one or more programs and requirements are different for each type of program. For example, the unearned income and asset ownership does not affect eligibility for Social Security and Medicare benefits (when the child is an older person), but they do for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid . SSI eligibility is determined not only by cash and checks paid to a child, but also by income in kind in the form of goods and services purchased by third parties. The objective is to ensure that the child is not excluded from assets in the name of the child when parents' death or disability.

Many parents use a discretionary trust with special needs. This document is trust established and funded by parents and must clearly indicate the purpose of the trust is to supplement, not replace, funds available from governmental programs and other benefits. The trustee must have discretion to use funds in any way for the recipient. In addition, the child shall have no legal right to access the trust assets or income of the trust. The trustee chosen must understand the rules relating to governmental programs, in order not to make a distribution that may affect the eligibility of the child to obtain government assistance.

It may also be advised to obtain a comprehensive assessment of physical education professionals, medical, social, emotional, child and service needs, if one has not yet been done. This will help your lawyer and financial advisor to refer you to the appropriate field manager or organizations that serve children with specific disabilities that the child will be most beneficial to the child.

Caring for a disabled child or one with special needs to work 24 / 7. If you are not there to do this job, you should plan ahead to make sure that your child get the proper care and be able to live a life that will be the best in the circumstances.