Estate planning for families with a child who has special needs requires careful coordination of financial, medical, and long-term support decisions. We offer thoughtful tools and strategies designed to fit your child’s unique circumstances.
Our Approach
If you are raising a child with special needs, your planning horizon is different. You are not only preparing for incapacity or death. You are preparing for a lifetime of care.
At some point, you will need to answer a difficult but necessary question: How do you leave enough resources to support your child’s lifetime needs without jeopardizing eligibility for essential government benefits?
You want your child to live a full and supported life. At the same time, programs such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid have strict asset limits.
Fortunately, the law allows assets to be held in properly structured Special Needs Trusts so your child can receive supplemental support without losing eligibility for public benefits.
The rules governing these trusts are detailed and frequently updated. Planning must be precise. Our education-first process ensures you understand:
- How benefits eligibility works
- What assets can and cannot be transferred directly
- Who should serve as trustee or guardian
- How to structure support over a lifetime
Your child’s needs will evolve. Laws will change. A well-designed plan anticipates both.
We Help
- Parents who know their child will require lifetime support
- Parents unsure whether what they are leaving behind will be sufficient
- Families whose child currently qualifies for government benefits
- Families exploring eligibility for SSI, Medicaid, or related programs
- Families at any income or wealth level who want clarity and long-term protection
If your child will rely on support beyond age 18, planning matters.
What We Do
We create a personalized plan that may include the following, depending on what is best for your family. Our services are packaged into customizable options, and all fees are flat-rate and agreed to in advance.
- Special Needs Provisions in Revocable Living Trusts
- First-Party Special Needs Trusts
- Third-Party Special Needs Trusts
- Pooled Special Needs Trusts
- State-Specific Special Needs Trust Structures
- Gift Planning to Reduce Taxable Estate While Funding a Special Needs Trust
- Guardianship prior to 18 years
Our goal is to design a structure that protects eligibility, preserves resources, and provides lifelong stability.
Planning with Confidence
Special needs planning is not about drafting one document and hoping it works. It is about building a coordinated system that supports your child at every stage of life.
Frequently Asked Questions About Special Needs Planning
WHAT IS A SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST?
There is no one variety of a “special needs trust,” and exactly which type of trust is right for you or your special needs child depends on your specific circumstances. Nevertheless, in practically all cases, special needs trusts are designed to be a vehicle by which you can transfer your assets to your child (really, for the benefit of your child) in a way that allows the child to enjoy your assets but also remain qualified for any important governmental benefits based on their special need.
Some of these vehicles are revocable, in the sense that you can revisit and revise the terms over time, and some of these vehicles are irrevocable, meaning you have limited or no ability over time to continue managing assets transferred into the trust or modifying the terms of the trust as things change over time.
DO I NEED AN ATTORNEY?
In the world of special needs planning, the best outcome for you and your special needs will be achieved only by working with a lawyer who encounters special needs planning situations daily. You have worked your whole life for what you have and for how you have designed your life to fully support your loving, lovable, special-needs child.
Unfortunately, some families collapse after the death of a loved one because they either did no planning at all, or if they did, it was through an online platform that knew nothing about their family or special needs circumstances, and that ultimately failed them when their special needs child needed help the most. We encourage a lifelong relationship between you and your estate planning attorney so that you have a lawyer for life to be there for your family – and your special needs child – when you cannot be.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
This is the most often asked question in estate planning, and that is okay – we know the topic of cost is a sensitive one when it comes to choosing a professional to guide you, and we have designed our fees on a flat-fee basis only so that you know exactly what you are committing to – and there are no surprises.
While we cannot quote fees online or over the phone, we invite you to check out our upcoming educational events where we teach you things about estate planning you do not even know to ask, plus we will cover during our next event our unique meeting process and fee schedule so that you know exactly how to take the next steps at the best time for you and your family.
HOW MUCH IN GOVERNMENTAL BENEFITS CAN MY CHILD QUALIFY FOR?
How much in governmental benefits any particular person qualifies for is person-specific and can change over time as laws change. There is no right answer that applies to all cases, and each special needs child is different. This means that every special needs trust is going to be different as well, and as a result, you should work with a qualified attorney (not fill-in-the-blank software or DIY templates) to ensure your special needs child is taken care of exactly how you want.
HOW DO I MAKE SURE THE GUARDIAN OF MY SPECIAL NEEDS CHILD KNOWS WHAT THEY NEED TO KNOW?
With all the planning that we do, we always encourage our clients to write a “letter of intent” in their own words to describe, in a single document, the important details that will enable the guardian to care for and raise your special needs child exactly how you would.
A letter of intent would include your child’s medical and education history; their likes, dislikes, and habits; and aspirations concerning their future, including living arrangements, career, and lifestyle. The letter is meant to be a roadmap for the guardian and to minimize disruption during an emotional time of transition.
N14 W24200 Tower Place, Suite 201
Waukesha, WI 53188
