The Importance of a Special Needs Trust and The Difference Between First Party and Third Party Special Needs Trusts

If you have a loved one, usually a child, who requires special needs such as in-home care or a lifetime of medical treatment, you need to consider setting up a special needs trust. Before going into what exactly is a special needs trust is, you may be asking yourself, “Why do I need special needs planning?” Well, because properly organizing and caring for a loved one with needs that may last well beyond your lifetime is absolutely critical. It is heartbreaking to see someone with special needs who had a loved one taking care of them, but then that loved one passes away. The special needs individual is basically left with nothing and becomes a ward of the state. This is where special needs planning comes in. It is estate and financial planning designed to provide for, and protect, a beneficiary with special needs while preserving entitlement to...