Living Trust Planning | Estate Planning Attorney

Tag: medi-cal

  • Special Needs Planning in Five Steps – Part 2

    Special Needs Planning in Five Steps – Part 2

    Special needs planning can seem like a daunting task. Sometimes fear can rise up and cause a freeze response as parents contemplate what may seem like an uncertain future for a vulnerable child. If you sense this could be the case for you, we encourage you to always remember that neither you, your loved one with special needs, nor future caregivers need to face this future alone.

    Our firm can guide you in each step along your path to achieving peace through special needs planning, and to help our clients avoid feeling overwhelmed, we break our planning process into five steps. 

    We previously looked at the first two of those steps: 

    1. Learn How Special Needs Planning Can Benefit Your Family
    2. Identify the Best Level of Support for Your Child

    Now, let’s get started with step 3:

    3 | Develop Future Budget Estimates for Your Loved One with Special Needs

    A focal point of special needs planning is providing assets to meet the financial needs of your loved one after your death – usually through a combination of government benefits, life insurance, family savings, and investments including retirement planning. Clients can begin to estimate expenses by completing our circle of support and fiduciary manual, noting the monthly, quarterly, and annual costs associated with the support categories listed in each section.

    Our firm can also provide information regarding current public benefit programs that help meet some of these needs so that clients can budget for other needs and quality-of-life measures beyond the scope of those programs. Working with a financial advisor during this process is strongly encouraged, and some families choose to work with a chartered special needs consultant or other financial advisor focusing on serving the special needs community.

    We’d be happy to work alongside your financial advisor to ensure that your special needs planning and overall financial planning coordinate in the best way possible for your entire family’s care and support. 

    4 | Align Your Financial and Legal Affairs for the Support of Your Child with Special Needs

    This step forms the core of special needs planning. 

    Inheritances and sizable lifetime gifts should be directed into a third-party special needs trust (SNT). Gifts under $17,000 annually may be placed into an ABLE account for those who qualify. Parents or other relatives must establish these SNTs during their lifetime or through their wills or living trust.

    Inherited assets not directed into an SNT will disqualify the individual with disabilities from SSI, Medi-Cal, and other means-tested benefits until funds are either “spent down” or placed into a first-party SNT after the person with disabilities inherits the funds. 

    However, a first-party SNT (established with funds that have already passed to the person with disabilities) is subject to Medi-Cal payback upon the death of the disabled beneficiary. This means that every dollar Medi-Cal has spent on an individual with a disability must be paid back from the first-party SNT after that individual’s death – before any assets are passed on to other family members.  

    By contrast, assets directed into a third-party SNT can be used to supplement the quality of life of the disabled individual and any remaining funds can be passed on to other family members upon the beneficiary’s death – with no Medi-Cal payback or estate recovery. This can be especially meaningful for sibling caregivers whose careers were impacted by caregiving responsibilities and whose parents felt it necessary to leave all or most of their estate to care for a child with special needs.

    5 | Establish a Decision-Making Process and Implement a Lifelong Support System

    After designing a special needs plan, we generally find it best to begin to implement the plan gradually, while our parent clients are still healthy.  

    For example, a special needs trust may require the development of an annual distribution plan by the trustee with input from various circle of support team members. Clients may want to model this process at least every few years to identify any potential issues with implementing their plan. These issues could involve anything from a team member who dominates the discussion to one who just never manages to show up.

    Likewise, if the plan is for your child to live with a family member and future conservator one day, we would suggest starting routine overnight visits to that person’s home. This provides needed respite for parents, helps identify any allergies or other environmental concerns, and helps the child come to feel “at home” with the extended family. 

    If the plan is for aunts, uncles, and cousins to rotate taking your adult child on an outing each month in the future, starting that practice at least 3-6 times per year now can help these events become reliable routines for your child and strengthen these crucial relationships for your child’s future. 

    Moving from Great Start to Next Steps

    At times, seeking proper diagnosis, therapy, and educational support must take priority over planning. You may need to secure the present before you can secure the future. But it’s crucial to be aware that the financial results of delaying special needs planning can be consequential for your entire family.

    When you’re ready to check special needs planning step 1 off your to-do list, give us a call. We’d be honored to walk alongside you on your special needs planning journey and connect you with financial planners and other professionals who focus on serving families impacted by special needs.  

    This article is a service of Jeannette Marsala, Personal Family Lawyer. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Life & Legacy Planning Session, during which you’ll get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Life and Legacy Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.

  • How Asking for Help Holds The Key to a Strong Caregiver Team

    How Asking for Help Holds The Key to a Strong Caregiver Team

    Chances are you’ve been caring for your child with special needs for so long, that it can be hard to seek help because 1) you don’t have time to find and train someone, and 2) you feel that no one else is going to care for your child as much or as well as you do. Yet asking for help not only gives you much-needed support, but it also ensures your child will have time to get accustomed to being cared for by others if and when you’re no longer around to personally provide that care.

    As important as those reasons are, they’re still not the most important reason to ask for help. The most important reason to ask for help is to begin training your child’s future primary caregiver. 

    As the primary caregiver for your child with special needs, you’ve likely been through some trials, and with them, you’ve identified your child’s support needs and connected with resources to help you find that support.  

    But what you may not have thought of is making sure that your successor caregivers and child with special needs are also connected to your support network and ready for the eventual transition in caregivers when you can no longer act as the primary caregiver of your child.

    Who Steps In When You Can’t Be There?

    Imagine that you’re suddenly no longer able to care for your child with special needs due to your own disability or death. You probably have a successor primary caregiver in mind – perhaps your child’s sibling, aunt, uncle, cousin, or close family friend. You may have even named a backup conservator or guardian, or your loved one with special needs may have named a successor caregiver in a power of attorney. 

    Now, imagine that you haven’t practiced asking for help during your healthy years. After all, once you develop a routine of providing support to a person with special needs, it can take more effort to train someone else to assist you. 

    But unfortunately, this makes it easy to fall into the admirable, but ultimately harmful, habit of self-reliance. It feels good in the short term to be the only person who knows how to care for your loved one just right, but this doesn’t serve them well long-term. Most individuals with special needs struggle with change, so the more gradual a transition in caregiving can be, the smoother the process will be for everyone.

    Holding the bulk of the responsibility for your loved one’s care can also cause burnout and increase the likelihood your successor will be overwhelmed with tasks that have become routine for you. Plus, since this successor is likely someone close to you, chances are that they will either be in the grieving process after your death or, if you’ve developed a disability yourself, in a dual caregiver role of caring for both you and your loved one with special needs. 

    At best, the successor caregiver can be under immense stress that negatively impacts family relationships and careers. At worst, your loved one with special needs could unnecessarily end up in institutional or agency care when they would be better served at home.

    Experience for Your Care Team, Respite for You

    Asking for help caring for your loved one with special needs doesn’t just provide a much-needed break for you. It also provides your successor caregivers with experience in the greater caregiving roles they’ll play in the future. 

    If you’ve set a clear example of asking for the help you need, at least one person will gain some experience dealing with Social Security and Medi-Cal agencies, and someone will have assisted with insurance companies and healthcare providers. By having a successor caregiver at least observe your caregiving activities once or twice a year, they will know exactly where the necessary contact information and legal documents are located to enable this critical work. 

    Beyond these essential basics, getting your support team acquainted with your loved one’s routine early on will provide your loved one with a greater quality of life even in your absence. During this time, they will benefit from continuity in their daily activities while becoming more familiar with their other caregivers. 

    In addition, by routinely gathering input from your support team in your decision-making processes, you will model a process for future caregivers on how to receive input and make decisions for your loved one – or support your loved one with special needs in making those decisions for themselves.

    Supporting You and Your Network at Every Stage

    As you model asking for bits of help now from the people you trust, you’re setting the example of self-care for future caregivers and giving them experience caring for your loved one now. By doing this, you’ll also find the weak spots in your support team where more training or familiarity with your loved one’s care routine may be needed. This translates directly into better health and quality of life for your loved one with special needs.

    We can help you identify the support roles that you and your loved one need, and the best persons or agencies to fill each role. We’ll also ensure you have at least one backup person for each role and can help you design a plan for how these support roles work together for your loved one’s benefit. We’ll guide you from the beginning to implement a plan now, train your support team for the future, and give you some well-deserved breaks in the meantime.

    Contact our office to learn more about how we can guide you in asking for help and setting a positive example for your support team. We look forward to putting our experience – and the experience of our mentors and other clients – to work for your family, especially your loved ones with special needs and their caregivers, both now and in the future.  

    This article is a service of Jeannette Marsala, Personal Family Lawyer. We don’t just draft documents; we ensure you make informed and empowered decisions about life and death, for yourself and the people you love. That’s why we offer a Life & Legacy Planning Session, during which you’ll get more financially organized than you’ve ever been before and make all the best choices for the people you love. You can begin by calling our office today to schedule a Life and Legacy Planning Session and mention this article to find out how to get this $750 session at no charge.

>