BRANDON SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST LAWYER
Brandon Family Law Center, LLC, provides trust planning and drafting services so that you can provide for the needs of your loved ones with special needs.
Our special trusts lawyer, Mary L. Greenwood, offers over 30 years of experience and knowledge of a wide variety of legal instruments to protect and individualize assets for the supplemental care of disabled or vulnerable adults.
If you have a special needs child who is about to become an adult but is unable to take care of himself or herself, it is important for you to contact our Tampa supplemental needs trusts attorney right away to plan for your child’s future needs.
DO I NEED A SUPPLEMENTAL NEEDS TRUSTS?
There are several government-run programs available to adults with special needs. These programs are intended to provide for the basic needs and care of these adults. In order to qualify for these programs, the special needs adult has to meet maximum income requirements. Put another way, they can’t make too much money or own property in their name.
When a special needs adult meets the requirements and is therefore entitled to the assistance of the government program, a well-meaning friend or relative can cause them to be later disqualified. This happens when their grandmother or parents, or even a family friend decides to leave them money in their will for future care or to put money into their bank account to pay for a family trip. Such an inheritance or deposit can cause their income to increase enough to make them ineligible for government assistance.
Another unfortunate example is when the parents of a special needs child have divorced and written child support in such a way that the child is ineligible for government programs when he or she reaches the age of 18.
Supplemental needs trusts exist for this purpose. At the Brandon Family Law Center, LLC, attorney Greenwood can help you to set up a trust with money to be used to supplement care or provide simple luxuries, without affecting eligibility. A supplemental needs trust can be done as part of planning your estate or in preparation for when your child turns 18.
Ms. Greenwood can also offer advice on guardianship and money management for disabled or special needs adults.
HOW DOES A SUPPLEMENTAL NEEDS TRUST WORK?
Money intended for the care of a special needs adult, over and above what the government will provide, is put into a trust. The trust is managed by a trustee, who will make sure the money is allocated appropriately for the supplemental care of the special needs adult over his or her life time.
EXPERIENCED FLORIDA PLANNING AND DRAFTING ATTORNEY
Ms. Greenwood understands that you are doing your best to offer a good life to your child, even after you are gone. She knows what benefits are available to special needs adults and about the costs of living in an assisted living facility. She can help you purchase enough life insurance to supplement government-provided income for your child in the future and turn the future insurance proceeds into a trust.
She can also help you draft a letter of intent. A letter of intent is part of planning for your disabled child’s needs in the event you were to unexpectedly die. It will outline your child’s particular needs for certain types of food, clothing — or explain personal fears and what makes the child feel better, for a future caregiver.
Bottom line, she will help you to help your child live as happily and comfortably as possible. Doctors will help you plan for your special needs child’s medical care. We will help you plan for the child’s social and psychological well-being.
Ms. Greenwood has years of experience working as a probate attorney, long enough to see what can happen to good, well-intentioned people without careful planning and forethought. She has also taught other attorneys how to set up supplemental needs trusts.
Contact our Brandon, Florida, special needs trust lawyer today for your sensitive and insightful trust planning and drafting needs.
