Category: Special Needs

how to manage a special needs trust

Understanding How Special Needs Trusts Work

A trust of any kind is a document that expresses your wishes while you are alive and after you have passed. The need for a dedicated trust for loved ones differs with the situations or issues of the family. It is vital to have an understanding of how Special Needs Trusts work. Getting this wrong can lead to financial devastation, explains the article “Take special care with Special Needs trusts” from the Herald Bulletin.

A Special Needs Trust or supplemental trust works to provide protection and management of assets for specific beneficiaries. The trustee is in charge of the assets in the trust during the grantor’s life or at his death and distributes to the beneficiary as directed by the trust.

The purpose of a Special Needs or supplemental trust is to help people who receive government benefits because they are physically or mentally challenged or are chronically ill. Most of these benefits are means-tested. The rules about outside income are very strict. An inheritance would disqualify a Special Needs person from receiving these benefits, possibly putting them in dire circumstances.

The value of assets placed in a Special Needs trust does not count against the benefits. However, this area of the law is complex, and requires the help of an experienced elder law estate planning attorney. Mistakes could have lifelong consequences.

The trustee manages assets and disperses funds when needed, or at the direction of the trust. Selecting a trustee is extremely important, since the duties of a Special Needs trust could span decades. The person in charge must be familiar with the government programs and benefits and stay up to date with any changes that might impact the decisions of when to release funds.

These are just a few of the considerations for a trustee:

  • How should disbursements be made, balancing current needs and future longevity?
  • Does the request align with the rules of the trust and the assistance program requirements?
  • Will anyone else benefit from the expenditure, family members or the trustee? The trustee has a fiduciary responsibility to protect the beneficiary, first and foremost.

Parents who leave life insurance, stocks, bonds, or cash to all children equally may be putting their Special Needs child in jeopardy. Well-meaning family members who wish to take care of their relative must be made aware of the risk of leaving assets to a Special Needs individual. These conversations should take place, no matter how awkward.

An experienced elder law estate planning attorney will be able give you an understanding of how Special Needs Trusts work for the individual and for the family.

If you would like to learn more about Special Needs issues, please visit our previous posts. 

Reference: Herald Bulletin (March 13, 2021) “Take special care with Special Needs trusts”

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SECURE Act has Changed Special Needs Planning

The SECURE Act has changed Special Needs Planning. The SECURE Act eliminated the life expectancy payout for inherited IRAs for most people, but it also preserved the life expectancy option for five classes of eligible beneficiaries, referred to as “EDBs” in a recent article from Morningstar.com titled “Providing for Disabled Beneficiaries After the SECURE Act.” Two categories that are considered EDBs are disabled individuals and chronically ill individuals. Estate planning needs to be structured to take advantage of this option.

The first step is to determine if the individual would be considered disabled or chronically ill within the specific definition of the SECURE Act, which uses almost the same definition as that used by the Social Security Administration to determine eligibility for SS disability benefits.

A person is deemed to be “chronically ill” if they are unable to perform at least two activities of daily living or if they require substantial supervision because of cognitive impairment. A licensed healthcare practitioner certifies this status, typically used when a person enters a nursing home and files a long-term health insurance claim.

However, if the disabled or ill person receives any kind of medical care, subsidized housing or benefits under Medicaid or any government programs that are means-tested, an inheritance will disqualify them from receiving these benefits. They will typically need to spend down the inheritance (or have a court authorized trust created to hold the inheritance), which is likely not what the IRA owner had in mind.

Typically, a family member wishing to leave an inheritance to a disabled person leaves the inheritance to a Supplemental Needs Trust or SNT. This allows the individual to continue to receive benefits but can pay for things not covered by the programs, like eyeglasses, dental care, or vacations. However, does the SNT receive the same life expectancy payout treatment as an IRA?

Thanks to a special provision in the SECURE Act that applies only to the disabled and the chronically ill, a SNT that pays nothing to anyone other than the EDB can use the life expectancy payout. The SECURE Act calls this trust an “Applicable Multi-Beneficiary Trust,” or AMBT.

For other types of EDB, like a surviving spouse, the individual must be named either as the sole beneficiary or, if a trust is used, must be the sole beneficiary of a conduit trust to qualify for the life expectancy payout. Under a conduit trust, all distributions from the inherited IRA or other retirement plan must be paid out to the individual more or less as received during their lifetime. However, the SECURE Act removes that requirement for trusts created for the disabled or chronically ill.

However, not all of the SECURE Act’s impact on special needs planning is smooth sailing. The AMBT must provide that nothing may be paid from the trust to anyone but the disabled individual while they are living. What if the required minimum distribution from the inheritance is higher than what the beneficiary needs for any given year? Let’s say the trustee must withdraw an RMD of $60,000, but the disabled person’s needs are only $20,000? The trust is left with $40,000 of gross income, and there is nowhere for the balance of the gross income to go.

In the past, SNTs included a provision that allowed the trustee to pass excess income to other family members and deduct the amount as distributable net income, shifting the tax liability to family members who might be in a lower tax bracket than the trust.

The SECURE Act has changed Special Needs Planning, but these changes can be addressed by an experienced estate planning attorney.

If you would like to learn more about the SECURE Act, please visit our previous posts. 

Reference: Morningstar.com (Dec. 9, 2020) “Providing for Disabled Beneficiaries After the SECURE Act”

 

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Estate Planning Can Address a Troubled Child

Every family has unique challenges when planning for the future, and every family needs to consider its individual beneficiaries in an honest light, even when the view isn’t pretty. Concerns may range from adults with substance abuse problems, an inability to make good decisions, or siblings with worrisome marriages. Estate planning can address a troubled child, says the article “Estate Planning for ‘Black Sheep’ Beneficiaries” from Kiplinger.

How can estate planning address a troubled child when they have grown into an adult with problems?

You have the option of not dividing your estate equally to beneficiaries.

Disinheriting a beneficiary occurs for a variety of reasons and is more common than you might think. If you have already given one child a down payment on a home, while another has gone through two divorces, you may want to make plans for one child to receive their share of the inheritance through a trust to protect them.

A family member who is disabled may benefit from a more generous inheritance than a successful sibling—although that inheritance must be structured properly, if the disabled person is to continue receiving support from government programs.

No matter the reason for unequal distributions, discuss the reasons for the difference in your estate plan with your family, or if your estate planning attorney advises it, include a discussion of your reasons in a document. This buttresses your plan against any claims against the estate and may prevent hard feelings between siblings.

You can change your mind about your estate plan if your ‘wild child’ gets his life together.

A regular evaluation of your estate plan—every three or four years, or whenever big life events occur—is always recommended. If your wayward child finds his footing and you want to change how he is treated in your estate plan, you can do that.

Your estate plan can include incentives, even after you are gone.

Specific provisions in a trust can be used to reward behavior. An incentive trust sets certain goals that must be met before funds are distributed, from completing college to maintaining employment or even to going through rehabilitation. Many estate plans stagger the distribution of funds, so heirs receive distributions over time, rather than all at once. An example: 1/3 at age 25, 1/2 at age 30 and the balance at age 40. This prevents the beneficiary from squandering all of his inheritance at once. Ideally, his financial skills grow, so he is better equipped to preserve a large sum at age 40.

Trusts are not that complicated, and their administration is not overly difficult.

People think trusts are for the wealthy only or are complicated and expensive. None of that is true. Trusts are excellent tools, considered the “Swiss Army Knife” of estate planning. Your estate planning attorney can craft trusts that will help you control how money flows to heirs, protect a special needs individual, minimize taxes and create a legacy. For families who have a troubled child, estate planning is a perfect tool to address issues and protect your loved ones from themselves and their life choices.

If you would like to learn more about inheritances and potentially disinheriting an heir, please visit our previous posts. 

Reference: Kiplinger (Dec. 8, 2020) “Estate Planning for ‘Black Sheep’ Beneficiaries”

 

A trust is a good option when your children are minors

Special Needs Plans Need Regular Reviews

Special needs plans need regular reviews and updates to be effective. For creating a wholly new plan or reviewing an older plan, one way to start is by writing a biography of a loved one with special needs, recommends the article “Special needs plan should be carefully considered” from The News-Enterprise.

Write down the person’s name, birth date and their age at the time of writing. Include information about favorite activities, closest friends and favorite places. Consider all of the things they like and dislike. Make detailed notes about relationships with family members, including any household pets. Think of it as creating a guide to your loved one for someone who has never met them. This guide will be useful in mapping out a plan that will best suit their needs.

Follow this by writing down what you envision for their future, in three distinct scenarios. A good future, where you are able to care for them, a not-so-great future where they are alive and well, but you are not present in their life and a bad future. You should be as specific as possible. This exercise will provide you with a clear sense of what pitfalls may occur, so you and your estate planning attorney can plan better.

Your plan needs to consider who will become the person’s guardian. You’ll need to list more than one person and put their names in order of preference. Consider the possibility that the first person may not wish to or be able to serve as a guardian and have second and third guardians. Talk to each person to be sure they are willing and able to take on this responsibility.

Next, consider living arrangements. Will your loved one be able to live independently, with regular check ins? Could they live in an accessory apartment with a guardian close at hand? Or would they need to live in a group care facility with an on-site social worker?

Special needs plans usually include a Special Needs Trust (SNT), with comprehensive details for the trustee. Just as you need multiple guardians, you should also name several trustees. The guardian is responsible for a person and the trustee is responsible for the property.

The question is raised whether a family member or a professional should be the trustee. Having a family member manage the finances is not always the best idea. A professional fiduciary will be able to manage the funds without the emotional ties that could cloud their ability to make good decisions. This is especially important, if the beneficiary has a drug dependency problem, does not have a strong family network or if the estate is large.

Consideration should also be given to having the trustee check in on the beneficiary on a regular basis to ensure that the beneficiary’s needs are being met. The trustee should have permission to make decisions about the use of the trust funds in special circumstances. The trustee will need to be someone who is skilled with managing money and is well-organized and responsible.

Special needs plans need regular reviews, but careful planning will give you the peace of mind of knowing that your loved one will be cared for by people you choose and trust.

If you would like to read more about special needs planning, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: The News Enterprise (Oct. 13, 2020) “Special needs plan should be carefully considered”

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Consider Funding a Trust with Life Insurance

You have set up a trust and now you need to fund it. There are many different options available. You might want to consider funding a trust with life insurance. How would funding a trust with life insurance work, and could it be a good option for you? A recent article in Forbes “How to Fund a Trust With Life Insurance” explains how this works. Let’s start with the basics: a trust is a legal entity where one party, the trustee, holds legal title to the assets owned by the trust, which is managed for the good of the beneficiary. There can be more than one person who benefits from the trust (beneficiaries) and there can be a co-trustee, but we’ll keep this simple.

Trusts are often funded with a life insurance policy. The proceeds of the policy provide the beneficiary with assets that are used after the death of the insured. This is especially important when the beneficiaries are minor children and the life insurance has been purchased by their parents. Placing the insurance policy within a trust offers more control over how funds are used.

What kind of a trust should you consider? All trusts are either revocable or irrevocable. There are pros and cons to both. Irrevocable trusts are better for tax purposes, as they are not included as part of your estate. However, with an $11.58 million federal exemption in 2020, most people don’t have to worry about federal estate taxes. With a revocable trust, you can make changes to the trust throughout your life, while with an irrevocable trust, only a trustee can make changes.

Note that, in addition to federal taxes, most states have estate taxes of their own, and a few have inheritance taxes. When working with an estate planning attorney, they’ll help you navigate the tax aspect as well as the distribution of assets.

Revocable trusts are the most commonly used trust in estate planning. Here’s why:

  • Revocable trusts avoid probate, which can be a costly and lengthy process. Assets left in the revocable trust pass directly to the heirs, far quicker than those left through the will.
  • Because they are revocable, the creator of the will can make changes to the trust as circumstances change. This flexibility and control make the revocable trust more attractive in estate planning.

If you want to consider funding a trust with life insurance, be sure the policy permits you to name beneficiaries, and be certain to name beneficiaries. Missing this step is a common and critical mistake. The beneficiary designations must be crystal clear. If there are two cousins who have the same name, there will need to be a clear distinction made as to who is the beneficiary. If someone changes their name, that change must be reflected by the beneficiary designation.

There are many other types of trusts, including testamentary trusts and special needs trusts. Your estate planning attorney will know which trust is best for your situation. Make sure to fund the trust and update beneficiary designations, so the trust will achieve your goals.

If you would like to learn more about funding a trust – and what happens if you don’t – please visit our previous posts. 

Reference: Forbes (Sep. 17, 2020) “How to Fund a Trust With Life Insurance”

 

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How Does Guardianship Work?

For the most part, we are free to make our own decisions regarding how we live, where we live, how we spend our money and even with whom we socialize. However, when we are no longer capable of caring for ourselves, most commonly due to advancing age or dementia, or if an accident or illness occurs and we can’t manage our affairs, it may be necessary to seek a guardianship, as explained in the recent article “Legal Corner: A guardian can be a helpful tool in cases of incapacity” from The Westerly Sun. A guardianship is also necessary for the care of a child or adult with special needs. So how does guardianship work?

If no proper estate planning has been done and no one has been given power of attorney or health care power of attorney, a guardianship may be necessary. This is a legal relationship where one person, ideally a responsible, capable and caring person known as a guardian, is given the legal power to manage the needs of a ward, the person who cannot manage their own affairs. This is usually supported through a court process, requires a medical assessment and comes before the probate court for a hearing.

Once the guardian is qualified and appointed by the court, they have the authority to oversee everything about the ward’s life. They have power over the ward’s money and how it is spent, health care decisions, residential issues and even with whom the ward spends time. At its essence, a guardianship is akin to a parent-child relationship.

Guardianships can be tailored by the court to meet the specific needs of the ward in each case, with the guardian’s powers either limited or expanded, as needed and as appropriate.

The guardian must report to the court on a yearly basis about the ward’s health and health care and file an annual accounting of what has been done with the ward’s money and how much money remains. The court supervision is intended to protect the ward from mismanagement of their finances and ensure that the guardianship is still needed and maintained on an annual basis.

The relationship between the ward and the guardian is often a close one and can continue for many years. The guardianship ends upon the death of the ward, the resignation or removal of the guardian, or in cases of temporary illness or incapacity, when the ward recovers and is once again able to handle their own affairs and make health care decisions on their own.

If and when an elderly family member can no longer manage their own lives, guardianship is a way to step in and care for them, if no prior estate planning has been done. It is preferable for an estate plan to be created and for powers of attorney be created, but in its absence, this is an option.

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

Reference: The Westerly Sun (Sep. 19, 2020) “Legal Corner: A guardian can be a helpful tool in cases of incapacity”

 

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A Letter of Instruction is a Good Addition

A letter of instruction, or LOI, is a good addition to your estate plan. It’s commonly used to express advice, wishes and practical information to help the people who will be taking care of your affairs, if you become incapacitated or die. According to this recent article “Letter of instruction in elder law estate plan can help with managing important information” from the Times Herald-Record, there are many different ways an LOI can help.

In our digital world, you might want to use your LOI to record website names, usernames and passwords for social media accounts, online accounts and other digital assets. This helps loved ones who you want to have access to your online life.

If you have minor children who are beneficiaries, the LOI is a good way to share your priorities to the trustee on your wishes for the funds left for their care. It is common to leave money in trust for HEMS—for “Health, Education, Maintenance and Support.” However, you may want to be more specific, both about how money is to be spent and to share your thoughts about the path you’d like their lives to take in your absence.

Art collectors or anyone who owns valuable items, like musical instruments, antiques or collectibles may use the LOI as an inventory that will be greatly appreciated by your executor. By providing a carefully created list of the items and any details, you’ll increase the likelihood that the collections will be considered by a potential purchaser. This would also be a good place to include any resources about the collections that you know of, but your heirs may not, like appraisers.

Animal lovers can use an LOI to share personalities, likes, dislikes and behavioral quirks of beloved pets, so their new caregivers will be better prepared. In most states, a pet trust can be created to name a caregiver and a trustee for funds that are designated for the pet’s care. The caregiver and the trustee may be the same person, or they may be two different individuals.

For families who have a special needs member, an LOI is a useful means of sharing important information about the person and is often referred to as a “Letter of Intent.” It works in tandem with a Special Needs Trust, which is created to leave assets to a person who receives government benefits without putting means-tested benefits in jeopardy. If there is no Special Needs Trust and the person receives an inheritance, they could lose access to their benefits.

Some of the information in a Letter of Intent includes information on the nature of the disability, daily routines, medications, fears, preferred activities and anything that would help a caregiver provide better care, if the primary caregiver dies.

The LOI can also be used to provide basic information, like where important documents are kept, who should be notified in case of death or incapacity, which bills should be paid, what home maintenance tasks need to be taken care of and who provides the services, etc. A letter of instruction is a useful document and a good addition to your estate plan. It will help those you leave behind to adjust to their new responsibilities and care for loved ones.

If you would like to learn more about what should be included in your estate planning, please visit our previous posts.

Reference: Times Herald-Record (Sep. 8, 2020) “Letter of instruction in elder law estate plan can help with managing important information”

 

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Finding The Right Elder Law Attorney

Elder law attorneys specialize in legal affairs that uniquely concern seniors and their adult children, says Explosion’s recent article entitled “The Complete Guide to Elder Law” Finding the right elder law attorney can be a big task. However, with the right tips, you can find an experienced elder law attorney who is knowledgeable, has the right connections and fits your budget.

While, technically, a general practice attorney will be able to handle your retirement, Medicaid and even your estate planning, an elder law lawyer is deeply entrenched in elder law. This means he or she will have extensive knowledge and experience to handle any case within the scope of elder law, like the following:

  • Retirement planning
  • Long-term care planning and insurance
  • Medicaid
  • Estate planning
  • Social Security
  • Veterans’ benefits; and
  • Other related areas of law.

While a general practice lawyer may be able to help you with one or two of these areas, a competent elder law lawyer knows that there’s no single formula in elder law that applies across the board. That’s why you’ll need a lawyer with a high level of specialization and understanding to handle your specific circumstances. An elder law attorney is best suited for your specific needs.

A referral from someone you trust is a great place to start. When conducting your elder law lawyer search, stay away from attorneys who charge for their services by the hour. For example, if you need an elder law attorney to work on a Medicaid issue, they should be able to give you an estimate of the charges after reviewing your case. That one-time flat fee will cover everything, including any legal costs, phone calls, meetings and court fees.

When it comes to elder law attorneys, nothing says more than experience. An experienced elder law lawyer has handled many cases similar to yours and understands how to proceed. Reviewing the lawyer’s credentials at the state bar website is a great place to start to make sure the lawyer in question is licensed. The website also has information on any previous ethical violations.

In your search for an elder law attorney, look for a good fit and a high level of comfort. Elder law is a complex area of law that requires knowledge and experience. To learn more about Elder law issues, please visit our previous posts. 

Reference: Explosion (Aug. 19, 2020) “The Complete Guide to Elder Law”

 

Information in our blogs is very general in nature and should not be acted upon without first consulting with an attorney. Please feel free to contact Texas Trust Law to schedule a complimentary consultation.
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