Tag Archives: special needs trust

How the SECURE Act Interacts With Special Needs Trusts

At the end of  2019, the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act, (the SECURE Act) was signed into law. The overall objective was to improve access to retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401(k)s to ensure older Americans …
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State University Retirement System (SURS) Pension Requirements for Beneficiaries With Special Needs

This article is for State University Retirement System (SURS) participants who want to learn how to use their SURS retirement benefits to provide for a loved one with special needs. While it may seem like a simple process, ensuring that …
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How To Ensure Your State Employees Retirement System (SERS) Pension Will Benefit Someone With Special Needs

Employees who perform services for the State of Illinois are eligible for retirement benefits under the State Employees Retirement System (SERS). Participants in the SERS program receive pension payments upon retirement and can name beneficiaries who will receive financial payments …
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Why Your Special Needs Trust Should Be a Separate Free-Standing Document

Why Your Special Needs Trust Should Be a Separate Free-Standing Document

When you decide to create a special needs trust for your child with special needs, you should ensure that the trust is prepared as a separate free-standing document. Some people think that creating SNTs in their wills or as part …
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Which Expenses Cannot Be Paid from a 3rd Party Special Needs Trust?

Which Expenses Cannot Be Paid from a 3rd Party Special Needs Trust?

Special needs trusts can pay some expenses for their beneficiaries without penalties. If you are a family member of a person with special needs or the trustee of an SNT, you should learn about which expenses the trust money can …
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Will a Divorce Impact Our Special Needs Trust?

Will a Divorce Impact Our Special Needs Trust?

When you and your spouse start talking about divorce, you should consider the effects of splitting up on your child with special needs. Divorce will require changes to your future planning, including – potentially – available benefits and your child’s …
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Do You Need to Change Your Future Planning Due to the New 2018 Tax Laws?

Do You Need to Change Your Future Planning Due to the New 2018 Tax Laws?

In January 2018, several new tax laws went into effect that could change your future planning. You should check in with the lawyer who prepared your estate plan and any documents for your child with special needs to see if …
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Future Planning for an Independent Adult with Special Needs

Future Planning for an Independent Adult with Special Needs

If your family includes an independent adult with special needs, you should do some future planning to ensure your child or other relative has everything he or she needs to continue living independently. Here are a few suggestions and options …
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The Gift Tax and Special Needs Trusts

The Gift Tax and Special Needs Trusts

When you give money to a special needs trust, you may worry that you or the trust will owe the IRS money for the gift when Tax Day rolls around. Both assessing the gift tax and taxation of an SNT …
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Is Long-Term Care Insurance Worth It?

Is Long-Term Care Insurance Worth It?

You may have heard about buying long-term care insurance.  This insurance helps cover the costs of a care facility outside the home or even nursing care inside of your home. There are a few pros and cons of long-term care …
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How Do SNTs Affect Beneficiaries with Special Needs’ Eligibility for Subsidized Housing?

How Do SNTs Affect Beneficiaries with Special Needs’ Eligibility for Subsidized Housing?

The federal and state governments subsidize some housing under programs such as “Section 8” for people with special needs. Some people who want to apply for Section 8 have special needs trusts (SNTs) that benefit them. If you are considering …
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Trusts: The Basics

Trusts: The Basics

People just beginning their future planning may hear many terms thrown around by their relatives and attorneys: trust, beneficiary, settlor, and more. For those unfamiliar with trusts, the many different words used to describe them can be quite confusing. This …
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When You Have No Estate Plan: Part 2

When You Have No Estate Plan: Part 2

Not having an estate plan could lead to serious consequences for your family in your absence. Future planning not only helps you move forward if you have a serious illness or if you are in need of money in the …
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Picking the Right Professionals for Your Trust

Picking the Right Professionals for Your Trust

Trustees of special needs trusts often need to pick professionals to assist with trust management and oversight. With so many licensed professionals to choose from, how does a careful trustee find the “right” professionals? Consider a few basic guidelines. How …
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Payments from Non-Special Needs Trusts to People with Special Needs

Payments from Non-Special Needs Trusts to People with Special Needs

For people with special needs, receiving a payment from a non-special needs trust may have significant consequences. In fact, any unexpected payments can jeopardize a person with special needs’ eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, Medicaid, and other government …
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How Much Money Do You Need to Fund a Special Needs Trust?

How Much Money Do You Need to Fund a Special Needs Trust?

If you are thinking about forming a special needs trust, you may be wondering how much money you need to fund it. In truth, there is no way to know how much your child will need for the rest of …
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Special Needs Future Planning When Future Health Care Funding Is Uncertain

Special Needs Future Planning When Future Health Care Funding Is Uncertain

Parents of children with special needs, advocates, and care providers have followed recent news about health care funding with worry , because health care funding proposals would cut Medicaid funding by 25 percent or more. While lawmakers in Washington have not passed …
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How Can I Use Insurance to Protect My Child with Special Needs’ Future?

How Can I Use Insurance to Protect My Child with Special Needs’ Future?

Protecting the future of your child with special needs requires a many-faceted approach, and insurance is only a part of it. Have you considered the role that insurance will play in your future plan? If not, now is the time …
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Expenditures from a Special Needs Trust

Expenditures from a Special Needs Trust

Families of individuals with special needs use special needs trusts to save for future expenses and protect eligibility for government benefits. Eventually, you or, in the case of 3rd party special needs trusts more likely the successor trustees, will need …
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Your Non-Special Needs Children May Need Estate Plans Too

Your Non-Special Needs Children May Need Estate Plans Too

If you are working on your family’s estate plan to protect your child with special needs, be aware that your other children may need to do some future planning too. As described in a previous blog article on our website, leaving your estate …
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Estate Planning for Your Extended Family

Estate Planning for Your Extended Family

When estate planning for your family’s future, don’t forget that extended family members may need to change their plans too if they want to help your child with special needs. This article described some common situations that arise when well-meaning relatives …
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How a Veteran Can Leave His Military Pension to a Special Needs Trust

How a Veteran Can Leave His Military Pension to a Special Needs Trust

Under recent changes to military pension plan rules, you can leave your pension to a special needs trust for the benefit of a child with special needs. Military members may choose the Survivor Benefit Plan ( SBP ) option, as part …
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Why Is Estate Planning for People with Special Needs Different?

Why Is Estate Planning for People with Special Needs Different

There are a number of reasons why estate planning for people with special needs can be different than planning for people who do not have special needs. Understanding these reasons will help you during the initial planning process and beyond. …
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When should I set up and fund my child’s special needs trust?

When should I set up and fund my child’s special needs trust?

A special needs trust can be the most important savings account your child with special needs will ever have. It should be set up as soon as you know that your child has special needs, and funded through ways that …
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Special provisions needed in your will, living trust and power of attorney, when you have a child with special needs

Special provisions needed in your will, living trust and power of attorney, when you have a child with special needs

If you have children, you should have an estate plan in place. This is especially true for parents of a child with special needs. An estate plan that includes a will, living trust, powers of attorney and other provisions can …
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How do I put money into my child’s special needs trust?

How do I put money into my childs special needs trust

A third party special needs trust is an important tool in long-term planning for a child with special needs. A special needs trust can help parents plan and maintain the child’s financial stability while ensuring his or her long-term eligibility …
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Choosing a residential program for your child with special needs

Choosing a residential program for your child with special needs

      Parents of a child with special needs share a very big fear: what will happen after they are gone.  Planning for that future is not just legal and financial it is also about creating the customized supports …
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What government benefits can my child with special needs qualify for and when?

Raising a child with special needs is challenging. Many families seek public assistance as a way to help cover the living expenses and health care costs associated with the child’s disability. Once a child reaches the age of 18, he …
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Can I leave my military pension to my child with special needs?

The federal government offers the men and women who make up the U.S. armed forces an insurance plan that covers retirement income that is lost when the service member dies. Called the Survivor Benefit Plan, the program gives widowed military …
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