Special Needs Planning

At the Malee Law Firm, many of our clients have children with special needs. We understand the complications these situations present in planning your estate.

At the Malee Law Firm our goal is to provide you with the knowledge and tools to ensure the very best course of action is taken. We offer four basic estate planning options for clients in this situation.

Partial Share of Estate

• This simple and inexpensive plan leaves an inheritance for your child.  However, your child will be off of SSI and Medicaid until they have spent through the inheritance.

Disinheritance

•   In this simple and inexpensive plan you child will continue to receive SSI and Medicaid; your estate will not be spent reproducing the benefits that are otherwise available through the public programs.

Obligated Gift Delegation

• This option gives the special needs child’s share to someone else, and they will use the funds for your child.  The advantages of this plan are the following:  this is simple and inexpensive planning; this maintains SSI and Medicaid benefits for the child; this sets the other person up to be a surrogate parent of sorts to your child; the person has maximum flexibility in the way the moneys are used for the child.  The only real disadvantage is that the person has no legal obligation to use the moneys on the child, and what happen to the funds when this person later dies

Special Needs Trust Creation

• This option gives a share of your estate, in trust, to a trustee to hold for your child. The money can be held in trust for your child and he or she will continue to get SSI and Medicaid.  The disadvantages, however, must be considered:  the trust is complicated and more expensive to set up and run; and the money in the trust can only be used for the child’s special needs.