Can you include special needs children into your estate plan?

When residents of North Carolina begin to form their estate plan, there are a lot of considerations. If you have a child with special needs, you may need to make him or her the priority when developing an estate plan. How can you know that your child receives the care that he or she needs? There are a lot of considerations to take into account.

Forbes explains that parents feel at a loss because they are not sure what type of benefits he or she will have access to in adulthood. To begin the planning process, you have to review the different options. One of the main factors is what your child’s health, prognosis and capabilities are. You have to tailor the plan to your child, rather than expecting a one-size-fits-all estate plan.

Whether you want your child to receive government benefits depends on your assets. if you have sufficient assets, you might decide to set aside a sufficient amount to cover the child’s living expenses. You can put these expenses into a trust.

When you have a child with special needs, you can create a special needs trust. The goal of this trust is to supplement the government benefits that your child may receive. If you do want your child to receive benefits, then it is crucial that you ensure that he or she will not be ineligible because of the trust. Parents have to take care in how they draft the estate plan.

None of the above article is considered legal advice. It is for educational purposes only.