A lot of financial needs can arise out of having a disability. Thus, when a person has a child, sibling or other relative who has a disability, they may have a strong desire to help their relative with these financial needs, not only in the short term, but over the long term as well.
There are certain estate planning devices that individuals can use to provide long-term financial help to a disabled relative. One such device is a special needs trust. A person can put assets into a special needs trust and have the beneficiary be a disabled relative. Such trusts allow for distributions of trust assets to be made even after the grantor passes away.
As with any trust, there are some important things to keep in mind when setting up a special needs trust to provide benefits to a disabled relative. The biggest is ensuring that you have a full understanding of how the trust could affect public benefits.
Our firm understands many ways that a person can use trusts and other forms of disability planning to help a disabled relative and knows how important it is to take individual circumstances into account in special needs planning. We can help individuals with the specifics of setting up a special needs trust for the benefit of a disabled loved one.