There are pros and cons to charitable trusts

Pay for Your Debts at Death

December 30, 2020

When you pass away, your assets become your estate, and the process of dividing up debt after your death is part of probate. Creditors only have a certain amount of time to make a claim against the estate (usually three months to nine months). So how do you pay for your debts at death?

Kiplinger’s recent article entitled “Debt After Death: What You Should Know” explains that beyond those basics, here are some situations where debts are forgiven after death, and some others where they still are required to be paid in some fashion:

The beneficiaries’ money is partially protected if properly named. If you designated a beneficiary on an account — such as your life insurance policy and 401(k) — unsecured creditors typically can’t collect any money from those sources of funds. However, if beneficiaries weren’t determined before death, the funds would then go to the estate, which creditors tap.
Credit card debt depends on what you signed. Most of the time, credit card debt doesn’t disappear when you die. The deceased’s estate will typically pay the credit card debt at death from the estate’s assets. Children won’t inherit the credit card debt, unless they’re a joint holder on the account. Likewise, a surviving spouse is responsible for their deceased spouse’s debt, if he or she is a joint borrower. Moreover, if you live in a community property state, you could be responsible for the credit card debt of a deceased spouse. This is not to be confused with being an authorized user on a credit card, which has different rules. Talk to an experienced estate planning attorney, if a creditor asks you to pay the credit card debt at death. Don’t just assume you’re liable, just because someone says you are.
Federal student loan forgiveness. This applies both to federal loans taken out by parents on behalf of their children and loans taken out by the students themselves. If the borrower dies, federal student loans are forgiven. If the student passes away, the loan is discharged. However, for private student loans, there’s no law requiring lenders to cancel a loan, so ask the loan servicer.
Passing a mortgage to heirs. If you leave a mortgage behind for your children, under federal law, lenders must let family members assume a mortgage when they inherit residential property. This law prevents heirs from having to qualify for the mortgage. The heirs aren’t required to keep the mortgage, so they can refinance or pay for your debt entirely. For married couples who are joint borrowers on a mortgage, the surviving spouse can take over the loan, refinance, or pay it off.
Marriage issues. If your spouse passes, you’re legally required to pay any joint tax owed to the state and federal government. In community property states, the surviving spouse must pay off any debt your partner acquired while you were married. However, in other states, you may only be responsible for a select amount of debt, like medical bills.

You may want to purchase more life insurance to pay for your debts at death or pay off the debts while you’re alive. If you would like to learn more about debts and other vital issues to address when someone dies, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: Kiplinger (Nov. 2, 2020) “Debt After Death: What You Should Know”

How Do You Handle A Large Inheritance?

December 9, 2020

How do you handle a large inheritance? Wealth Advisor’s recent article entitled “Death by inheritance: Windfall can cause complications” cautions that in a community property state, if you’re married, your inheritance is separate property. It will stay separate property, provided it’s not commingled with community funds or given to your spouse. That article says that it is much harder to do than it looks.

One option is for you and your spouse to sign a written marital agreement that states that your inheritance (as well as any income from it) remains your separate property. However, you have to then be careful that you keep it apart from your community property.

If your spouse doesn’t want to sign such an agreement, then speak to an attorney about what assets in your inheritance can safely be put into a trust. If you do this, take precautions to monitor the income and keep it separate.

Another route is to put your inheritance into assets held in only your name and segregate the income from them. This is important because income from separate property is considered community property.

Another tip for handling a large inheritance, is to analyze it by type of asset. IRAs and other qualified funds take very special handling to avoid unnecessary taxes or penalties. If you immediately cash out your inherited traditional IRA, you’ll forfeit a good chunk of it in taxes. If you don’t take the mandatory distribution of a Roth IRA, you’re going see a major penalty.

Inherited real estate has its own set of issues. If you inherited only part of a piece of real property, then you’ll have to work with the other owners as to its use, maintenance, and/or sale. For example, your parents’ summer home is passed to you and your three siblings. If things get nasty, you may have to file a partition suit to force a sale, if your siblings aren’t cooperative. Real estate can also be encumbered by an environmental issue, a mortgage, delinquent taxes, or some other type of lien.

Some types of assets are just a plain headache: timeshares, partnership, or entity interests that don’t have a buy-sell agreement, along with Title II weapons (which may be banned in your state).

You can also refuse an inheritance by use of a disclaimer. It’s a procedure where you decline to take part or all of an inheritance.

Finally, speak with an experienced estate planning attorney that is familiar with how to handle a large inheritance, so you can incorporate that inheritance into your own estate plan.

If you would like to learn more about inheritance, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: Wealth Advisor (Nov. 10, 2020) “Death by inheritance: Windfall can cause complications”

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Failing To Put Assets Into Trusts

November 23, 2020

Failing to put assets into trusts creates headaches for heirs and probate hassles, says the article “Once You Create a Living Trust, Don’t Forget to Fund It” from Kiplinger. It’s the last step of creating an estate plan that often gets forgotten, much to the dismay of heirs and estate planning attorneys.

Are people so relieved when their estate plan is finished, that they forget to cross the last “t” and dot the last “i”? Could be! Retitling accounts is not something we do on a regular basis, and it does take time to get done. However, without this last step, the entire estate plan can be doomed.

Here are the steps that need to be competed:

Check the deeds on all real estate property. If the intention of your estate plan is to place your primary residence, vacation home, timeshare or rental properties into the trust, all deeds need to be updated. The property is being moved from your ownership to the ownership of the trust, and the title must reflect that. If at some point you refinanced a home, the lender may have asked you to remove the name of the trust for purposes of financing the loan. In that case, you need to change the deed back into the name of the trust. If your estate planning attorney wasn’t part of that transaction, they won’t know about this extra step. Check all deeds to be certain.

Review financial statements. Gather bank statements, brokerage statements and any financial accounts. Confirm that any of the accounts you want to be owned by the trust are titled correctly. You may need to contact the institutions to make sure that the titles on the statements are correct. If there is no reference to the trust at all, then the account has not been recorded correctly and changes need to be made.

It’s also a good idea to review any accounts with named beneficiaries. Talk with your estate planning attorney about whether these accounts should be retitled. The rules regarding beneficiaries for annuities changed a few years ago, so naming the trust as a beneficiary might not work for your estate plan or your tax planning goals as it did in the past.

IRAs and other retirement accounts. These accounts need to be treated on an individual basis when deciding if they should have a trust listed as a primary or contingent beneficiary. Listing a trust as a beneficiary can, in some cases, accelerate income tax due on the account. If the trust is listed as the beneficiary, the ability to distribute assets to trust beneficiaries may be impacted.

The main reason to list a trust as a beneficiary to an IRA or retirement plan is to protect the asset from creditors, financially reckless heirs, or a beneficiary with special needs. An estate planning attorney will know the correct way to handle this.

Making sure that you put your assets into a trust takes a little time, but it is up to the owner of the trust to take care of this final detail. The estate planning attorney may provide you with written directions, but unless you make specific arrangements with the office, they will expect you to take care of this. The assets don’t move themselves – you’ll need to make it happen.

If you would like to learn more about funding a trust, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: Kiplinger (Oct. 26, 2020) “Once You Create a Living Trust, Don’t Forget to Fund It”

Benefit from a Roth IRA and Social Security

November 5, 2020

When originally created, Social Security was designed to prevent the elderly and infirm from sinking into dire poverty. When most working Americans enjoyed a pension from their employer, Social Security was an additional source of income and made for a comfortable retirement. However, with an average monthly benefit just over $1,500 and few pensions, today’s Social Security is not enough money for most Americans to maintain a middle-class standard of living, says the article “3 Reasons a Roth IRA Is a Perfect Supplement to Social Security” from Tuscon.com. It’s important to plan for additional income streams and one to consider is the Roth IRA. So how do you benefit from a Roth IRA and Social Security?

Roth IRAs can be funded at any age. Many seniors today are continuing to work to generate income or to continue a fulfilling life. Their earnings can be put into a Roth IRA, regardless of age. If you are still working but don’t need the paycheck, that’s a perfect way to fund the Roth IRA.

Withdrawals from a Roth won’t trigger taxes on Social Security benefits. If your only income is Social Security, you probably won’t have to worry about federal taxes. However, if you are working while you are collecting benefits, once your earnings reach a certain level, those benefits will be taxed.

To calculate taxes on Social Security benefits, you’ll need to determine your provisional income, which is the non-Social Security income plus half of your early benefit. If you earn between $25,000 and $44,000 as a single tax filer or between $32,000 and $44,000 as a married couple, you could be taxed as much as 50% of your Social Security benefits. If your single income goes past $34,000 and married income goes past $44,000, you could be taxed on up to 85% of your benefits.

If you put money into a Roth IRA, withdrawals don’t count towards your provisional income. That could leave you with more money from Social Security.

A Roth IRA is flexible. The Roth IRA is the only tax-advantaged retirement savings plan that does not impose Required Minimum Distributions or RMDs. That’s because you’ve already paid taxes when funds went into the account. However, the flexibility is worth it. You can leave the money in the account for as long as you want, so savings continue to grow tax-free. You can also leave money to your heirs.

While you don’t have to put your savings into a Roth IRA, doing so throughout your career—or starting at any age—will allow you to benefit from a Roth IRA and Social Security throughout retirement.

If you would like to learn more about Social Security and retirement accounts, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: Tuscon.com (Oct. 5, 2020) “3 Reasons a Roth IRA Is a Perfect Supplement to Social Security”

Your Estate Plan May Need an Audit

October 22, 2020

You should have an estate plan because every state has statutes that describe how your assets are managed, and who benefits if you don’t have a will. Most people want to have more say about who and how their assets are managed, so they draft estate planning documents that match their objectives. If you created an estate plan years – or even decades ago – your estate plan may need an audit.

Forbes’ recent article entitled “Auditing Your Estate Plan” says the first question is what are your estate planning objectives? Almost everyone wants to have financial security and the satisfaction of knowing how their assets will be properly managed. Therefore, these are often the most common objectives. However, some people also want to also promote the financial and personal growth of their families, provide for social and cultural objectives by giving to charity and other goals. To help you with deciding on your objectives and priorities, here are some of the most common objectives:

Making sure a surviving spouse or family is financially OK
Providing for others
Providing now for your children and later
Saving now on income taxes
Saving on estate and gift taxes in the future
Donating to charity
Having a trusted agency manage my assets, if I am incapacitated
Having money for my children’s education
Having retirement income; and
Shielding my assets from creditors.

Speak with an experienced estate planning attorney about the way in which you should handle your assets. If your plan doesn’t meet your objectives, your estate plan should be revised. This estate planning audit will include a review of your will, trusts, powers of attorney, healthcare proxies, beneficiary designation forms and real property titles.

Note that joint accounts, pay on death (POD) accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance policies, annuities and other assets will transfer to your heirs by the way you designate your beneficiaries on those accounts. Any assets in a trust won’t go through probate. “Irrevocable” trusts may protect assets from the claims of creditors and possibly long-term care costs, if properly drafted and funded.

Another question is what happens in the event you become mentally or physically incapacitated and who will see to your financial and medical affairs. Use a power of attorney to name a person to act as your agent in these situations.

If you have decided that your estate plan needs an audit and you find that your plans need to be revised, follow these steps:

Work with an experienced estate planning attorney to create a plan based on your objectives
Draft and execute a will and other estate planning documents customized to your plan
Correctly title your assets and complete your beneficiary designations
Create and fund trusts
Draft and sign powers of attorney, in the event of your incapacity
Draft and sign documents for ownership interest in businesses, intellectual property, artwork and real estate
Discuss the consequences of implementing your plan with an experienced estate planning attorney; and
Review your plan regularly.

To learn more about estate planning documents such as a trust or will, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: Forbes (Sep. 23, 2020) “Auditing Your Estate Plan”

Do I Have to Accept an Inheritance?

October 1, 2020

Do I have to accept an inheritance? That is a phrase many estate planning attorneys hear. Most people don’t use a disclaimer because they’re not entitled to other assets to offset the value of the asset disclaimed. They don’t get to decide who gets their disclaimed asset.

MarketWatch’s recent article entitled “Can I reject an inheritance?” explains that the details can be found in Internal Revenue Code §2518. However, here are some of the basics about disclaimers.

In most states, a qualified disclaimer can be filed within nine months of an asset owner’s death. This disclaimer is irrevocable. Therefore, once it’s done, it’s done. This can create problems with IRAs because they have beneficiary designations, and the death claim can be processed with a few forms. As soon as the funds are transferred to an inherited IRA, disclaiming is no longer an option.

When a person declines to accept an inheritance, the assets are distributed as though that beneficiary had died prior to the date of the benefactor’s death. Therefore, with an IRA, it is pretty simple. If you disclaim all or a part of the IRA, the funds pass on, based on the beneficiary designation.

The IRA usually has a secondary beneficiary named. If the beneficiaries in line to inherit the account are who you would want to inherit the account, disclaiming should transfer the account to them. However, if they’re not who you want to get the funds, you have little leverage to do anything about it.

If there are no other beneficiaries and you disclaimed an inheritance, the money goes back into the decedent’s estate.

The funds would go through probate and be directed based upon his will. If there was no will (intestacy), the probate laws of the decedent’s state will dictate how the assets are distributed.

Having an IRA go through an estate is inefficient, time consuming and adds additional costs beyond the taxes.

All these drawbacks can be avoided, by properly designating beneficiaries.

Being wise with your beneficiary designations, also provides flexibility in your estate plan.

For example, you can set up beneficiary designations to purposely give an inheritor the option to disclaim to other family members if they choose not to accept an inheritance, which is done when the primary beneficiary can disclaim to a family member that is in greater need of funds or is in a lower tax bracket.

If you would like to learn more about beneficiary designations, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: MarketWatch (Aug. 25, 2020) “Can I reject an inheritance?”

How 401(K) Beneficiaries Work

September 28, 2020

For anyone who thinks that their will or trust can be used to distribute assets in a 401(k) after they pass, think again. It is important to understand how 401(k) beneficiaries work with your estate plan. The beneficiaries listed in a 401(k), insurance policy or any account with the option to name a beneficiary supersede whatever directions are placed in a will or a trust. If you’re not careful, warns the article “What You Should Know About 401(k) Beneficiaries” from The Motley Fool, your assets could end up in the wrong hands.

Here are some basics about beneficiaries that you need to know.

After you die, your estate goes through probate, which can be a costly and lengthy process. However, assets like 401(k) plans that have named beneficiaries are typically passed to heirs outside of probate. The asset goes directly to the beneficiary.

When you opened a 401(k), you were almost certainly directed to name a beneficiary in the paperwork used to establish the account. That person is usually a spouse, child or a domestic partner. The beneficiary is sometimes a trust (a legal entity that manages assets for the benefit of beneficiaries).

If no beneficiary was named and you were married when you established the account, most 401(k) plans designate your spouse as the default beneficiary. The surviving spouse is allowed to treat the account as if it is their own when they inherit it—they can delay withdrawing money until they are 72, when the IRS requires withdrawals to begin. The surviving spouse uses their own life expectancy, when calculating future withdrawals.

If someone other than a spouse was listed as the beneficiary, the assets are to be transferred into an inherited 401(k) and the amounts received are based on the percentage listed on the beneficiary designation form. Most plans give the beneficiaries the option to roll over an inherited 401(k) into an inherited IRA. This gives the account owners greater control over what they can do with their inheritance.

Once you have named a beneficiary on these accounts, it’s wise to list contingent beneficiaries, who will inherit the accounts, if the primary beneficiary is deceased. For most families, the children are the contingent beneficiaries and the spouse is the primary beneficiary.

The list of mistakes made when naming beneficiaries is a long one, but here are a few:

Setting up a trust to keep IRA or 401(k) assets from going to a minor or to protect services for a special needs child, then failing to list the trust as a beneficiary.
Not naming anyone as a beneficiary on an IRA or 401(k) plan.
Neglecting to check beneficiary names every few years or after big life changes.

If you set up a trust for your beneficiaries, you must list the trust as the beneficiary. If you don’t specifically list the trust, the account will pass to any person listed as a beneficiary, or the accounts will go through probate.

If you have had more than a few jobs and have more than a few 401(k) accounts, it can be challenging to track the accounts and the beneficiaries. Consolidating the accounts into one 401(k) account makes it easier for you and for your heirs.

If you do list a trust as a beneficiary, talk with your estate planning attorney about how to do this correctly. The trust’s language must take into consideration how taxes will be handled. This could have big costs for your heirs.

If you would like to learn more about beneficiaries, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: The Motley Fool (Aug. 24, 2020) “What You Should Know About 401(k) Beneficiaries”

What is an Eligible Designated Beneficiary?

August 27, 2020

What is an eligible designated beneficiary? An eligible designated beneficiary (EDB) is a person included in a unique classification of retirement account beneficiaries. A person may be classified as an EDB, if they are classified as fitting into one of five categories of individuals identified in the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act. The bill passed in December 2019 and is effective for all inherited retirement accounts, as of the first of this year.

Investopedia’s recent article explains that these people get special treatment and greater flexibility to withdraw funds from their inherited accounts than other beneficiaries.

With the SECURE Act, there are now three types of beneficiaries. It is based on the individual’s connection to the original account owner, the beneficiary’s age, and his or her status as either an individual or a non-person entity. However, an EDB is always an individual. On the other hand, an EDB can’t be a trust, an estate, or a charity, which are considered not designated beneficiaries. There are five categories of individuals included in the EDB classification. These are detailed below.

In most instances, except for the exceptions below, an EDB must withdraw the balance from the inherited IRA account over the beneficiary’s life expectancy. There is optional special treatment allowed only for surviving spouses, which is explained below. When a minor child reaches the age of majority, he or she is no longer considered to be an EDB, and the 10-year rule concerning withdrawal requirements for a designated beneficiary applies.

Here are the five categories of eligible designated beneficiaries.

Owner’s surviving spouse. Surviving spouses get special treatment, which lets them step into the shoes of the owner and withdraw the balance from the IRA over the original owner’s life expectancy. As another option, they can roll an inherited IRA into their own IRA and take withdrawals at the point when they’d normally take their own required minimum distributions (RMDs).

Owner’s minor child. A child who isn’t yet 18 can make withdrawals from an inherited retirement account using their own life expectancy. However, when he or she turns 18, the 10-year rule for designated beneficiaries (who aren’t EDBs) applies. At that point, the child would have until December 31 of the 10th year after their 18th birthday to withdraw all funds from the inherited retirement account. A deceased retirement account owner’s minor child can get an extension, up until age 26, for the start of the 10-year rule, if he or she is pursuing a specified course of education.

An individual who is disabled. The tax code says that an individual is considered to be disabled if he or she is “unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or to be of long continued and indefinite duration.” A disabled person who inherits a retirement account can use their own life expectancy to calculate RMDs.

An individual who is chronically ill. The tax code states that “the term ‘chronically ill individual’ means any individual who has been certified by a licensed healthcare practitioner as—

being unable to perform (without substantial assistance from another individual) at least two activities of daily living for a period of at least 90 days, due to a loss of functional capacity,
having a level of disability similar (as determined under regulations prescribed by the Secretary in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services) to the level of disability described in clause (i), or
requiring substantial supervision to protect such individual from threats to health and safety due to severe cognitive impairment.”

A chronically ill individual who inherits a retirement account can use their own life expectancy to determine the RMDs.

Any other person who’s less than 10 years younger than the decedent. This is a catch-all that includes certain friends and siblings (depending on age), who are identified as beneficiaries of a retirement account. This also excludes most adult children (who aren’t disabled or chronically ill) from the five categories of eligible designated beneficiaries. A person in this category who inherits a retirement account is permitted to use their own life expectancy to calculate RMDs.

Reference: Investopedia (June 25, 2020) “There is a New Type of Beneficiary”

Inherited IRAs Require Care

August 17, 2020

For those who inherit IRAs, the intersection of taxes, estate law and financial planning can be a tricky place. There are many choices, maybe too many, and making the wrong choice can be costly, according to the recent article “6 inherited IRA rules all beneficiaries must know” from Bankrate. This is why inherited IRAs require care.

There are two categories of beneficiaries. Surviving spouses, minor children, chronically ill or disabled individuals, or someone who is not less than 10 years younger than the original owner are subject to one set of rules. Everyone else has another set of rules.

You’ll need to know if the original owner had taken any RMDs—required minimum distributions—before they passed.

Did you want to minimize taxes, or is it more important for you to maximize cash distribution?

These are just a few of the issues to be addressed. Already complicated, inherited IRAs got even more complicated because of the SECURE Act, which changed some longstanding practices. Some experts tell beneficiaries not to do anything, until they meet with an estate planning attorney. The worst thing someone could do is make a wrong step and lose half of the IRA to taxes.

Here are the six rules for the careful handling of inherited IRAs:

1–Spouses have the most flexibility. The surviving spouse may treat the IRA as her own, naming herself as the owner. She can also roll it over into another account, such as another IRA or a qualified employer plan (including 403(b) plans). She could also treat herself as the beneficiary of the plan. However, each choice leads to further choices and decisions. She might let the IRA grow in the account until she reaches age 72, the new age for RMDs. Or she can roll the IRA into an IRA of her own, which lets her then name her own beneficiary.

2—When do you want to take the money? If you fall into the category of surviving spouses, minor children, chronically ill or disabled individuals, or someone who is not less than ten years younger than the original owner, then you can take the distributions over your own life expectancy. That’s the “stretch” option. Otherwise, you need to take distributions from the account over ten years, according to the SECURE Act. Depending on the size of the IRA, that could be a nasty tax bill. You can take as little or as much as you want, but by year ten after the owner’s death, the account must be empty.

3—Know about year of death required distributions. If the owner of the IRA did not take his RMD in the year of his death, beneficiaries are required to do so. If a parent dies in early January, for example, it’s not likely he took his RMD. The IRS doesn’t care if you didn’t know—you’ll be liable for a penalty of 50% of the amount that wasn’t taken out. If someone dies close to the end of the year, it’s possible that heirs might not know about the accounts until after the deadline has passed. If the deceased was not yet 70½, there is no-year-of-death distribution.

4—Get all the breaks you can—tax breaks. For estates subject to the estate tax, IRA beneficiaries will get an income-tax deduction for estate taxes paid on the account. The taxable income earned but not received by the deceased is called “income in respect of a decedent.” When someone takes a distribution from an IRA, it’s treated as taxable income. However, the decedent’s estate is paying a federal estate tax, so beneficiaries get an income-tax deduction for estate taxes paid on the inherited IRA. For a $1 million income in an inherited IRA, there could be a $350,000 deduction offset against that.

5—Beneficiary forms matter. An entire estate plan can be undone by a missing beneficiary form, or one that is not filled out correctly or is ambiguous. If there is no designated beneficiary form and the account goes to the estate, the beneficiary will need to take the distribution from the IRA in five years. Forms that aren’t updated, are missing, or don’t clearly identify the individuals create all kinds of expensive headaches.

6—Improperly drafted trusts are trouble. If they are done wrong, a trust can limit beneficiary options in a big way. If the provisions in the trust are not properly drafted, some custodians won’t be able to see through the trust to determine the qualified beneficiaries. Any ability to maximize the time to take money out of an IRA could be lost. An experienced estate planning attorney who knows the rules about inherited IRAs and trusts is a must.

Reference: Bankrate (July 17, 2020) “6 inherited IRA rules all beneficiaries must know”

Balancing Retirement with Special Needs Planning

August 3, 2020

Balancing retirement with special needs planning can be difficult for a family with a special needs child. Many government benefits are “means tested,” which can put financial restrictions on how much money the individual can have in their name. Careful estate and financial planning is important, advises the article “How Having A Child With Special Needs Impacts Your Retirement Planning” from Forbes.

In most instances, providing financially for children ends a year or two after college. However, for the family with a special needs family member, the financial assistance does not end. It’s also likely that the child will live with their parents well into the parent’s retirement. The family will need more money during retirement to provide for their child’s needs, including therapies, transportation and hobbies.

The family may choose to have the child live in a group home setting, but those costs are substantially higher, depending on the home and the level of care required.

Parents are often more focused on planning to care for their disabled family member and overlook their own retirement planning. It is important to find the balance between both.

Social Security planning is a bigger factor for the family with a special needs family member. If parents decide to collect their Social Security benefits, they need to map out what different scenarios could mean, including delaying when to take benefits and spend down assets.

If the disability of a child with special needs began before age 22, the child may be eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance, generally half of the last surviving parent’s Social Security payment in retirement (in addition to what the parent receives). When that parent dies, the amount increases to three-quarters of the parent’s benefits. This must be calculated in terms of income now for the child while the parents are living and after the parents pass.

It’s critical for the parents of an individual with special needs to do a careful budget analysis of their own retirement income and what they will need to care for their child. Once they understand these numbers, they can figure out what assets and income streams will make the most sense. A professional financial advisor can be very helpful for this process.

The family may need to set up a special needs trust (SNT), which is best done with an experienced estate planning elder law attorney. Life insurance may be purchased to fund a child’s lifetime needs and be placed in the SNT.

The family will also need to address tax planning. Traditional 401(k) plans and IRA accounts are not taxed until withdrawals are taken. There have been a number of changes to the law in recent months, not the least of which is the CARES Act, which allows withdrawals to be made from retirement accounts with no extra penalties. For additional information, please read our previous post on special needs planning.

Reference: Forbes (July 1, 2020) “How Having A Child With Special Needs Impacts Your Retirement Planning”

Category: Retirement Accounts