Ruder Ware's Elder Law Team Recognizes National Special Needs Law Month - Part 2
In Richey v. Brouse, the settlor created a special needs trust for her son, who had a mental disability and a seizure disorder that required day-to-day care. No. 03-23-00544-CV, 2024 Tex. App. LEXIS 8842 (Tex. App.—Austin...more
Managing a Special Needs Trust (SNT) comes with tremendous responsibility. Trustees are not only tasked with safeguarding the financial future of a beneficiary with special needs, but they must also ensure that trust assets...more
Looking for a way to stop family arguments over politics? Well, who isn’t. A quick way to derail a familial political scuffle: Quietly announce that you want to talk about your will. The silence should be automatic. It’s...more
Have you heard the terms “special” needs trust and “supplemental” needs trust and wondered what the difference is? The simple answer is that there’s no difference. Whether supplemental or special, these trusts serve the...more
Trusts serve a variety of tax, asset protection and estate planning purposes for families, and over the years different types of trusts have evolved to best serve families’ planning needs and objectives. Each type of trust...more
Choosing the right person to serve as trustee of a special needs trust (SNT) is a key task when creating such a trust. It may also prove to be one of the most challenging. Trustees are responsible for the following: ...more
For individuals with disabilities, an inheritance or settlement can jeopardize a their government benefits, such as Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). A special needs trust (SNT) can help the individual remain...more
People often assume that if their estate isn’t taxable, they don’t need to have an estate plan. In 2023, a Massachusetts estate tax return must be filed if the value of the deceased person’s gross estate exceeds $1 million. A...more
In a recent Michigan Court of Appeals case, In re Special Needs Trust for the benefit of Talonda Moss, Docket No 357836, 2022 WL 2760235 (Mich Ct App Jul 14 2022), the court ruled on whether a trust created for a disabled...more
If you have a child or another loved one with special needs, it’s only natural to worry about their future. How can you make sure their financial needs are taken care of without jeopardizing their public assistance payments?...more
One of the most important decisions a special needs trust's donor (the person who supplies the funds for the trust) makes is the choice of a trustee for the trust. A trustee typically manages the day-to-day operations of the...more
By their very nature, special needs trusts (SNTs) are usually designed to terminate, or at least radically change, when the trust's primary beneficiary dies. But terminating a special needs trust is not as simple as merely...more
Parents want their children to be taken care of after they die. But children with disabilities have increased financial and care needs, so ensuring their long-term welfare can be tricky. Proper planning by parents is...more
For some people with disabilities, homeownership may present a uniquely empowering opportunity. But for many others, purchasing a home through a special needs trust may be in the beneficiary’s best interests. Homeownership...more
What do chocolate cake, purple hair dye, Lorrie Morgan, and Alexa have in common? On first or even second glance, most of you would find nothing that these random things have in common, unless you know a gentleman named Doug....more
Choosing the right person to serve as trustee of a special needs trust is one of the most important and difficult issues in creating the trust. A trustee typically manages the day-to-day operations of the trust, often making...more
The beneficiary of a special needs trust can never control or access trust funds – that is the job of the trustee. A common fear among beneficiaries or their families is that the trustee may not do what’s in the beneficiary’s...more
Trustees of special needs trusts have a duty to properly manage the funds in their care. However, most trustees, especially non-professional ones, are not sophisticated investors and they should not be directly managing the...more
If you are considering taking on the responsibility of serving as the trustee of a special needs trust, you will probably have questions about the trustee's role. Trustees of special needs trusts have many important...more
Choosing a trustee is one of the most important and difficult issues in creating a special needs trust (SNT). Trustees must have the necessary expertise to manage the trust, including making proper investments, paying bills,...more