Babette: One of the things that an elder law attorney specializes in is estate planning for a disabled beneficiary. Many of our clients have children or grandchildren who are suffering from various disabilities and receive governmental benefits. If they receive medicaid, they need to do a special needs trust in order for that beneficiary to be able to receive an inheritance and have their governmental benefits protected. We often work on a team approach doing the estate planning for a family that’s very concerned about a disabled beneficiary.
Fred: The special needs trust is a very exacting document. You must draft the document so that the beneficiary, that is, the disabled person, gets all the benefits from the trust that the creator of the trust intended but at the same time, does not get kicked off medicaid or another governmental benefit. The way you accomplish that is to give to the trustee, whether it be a family member or perhaps a trust department of a bank, the complete discretion as to whether or not to distribute income or principle benefits to the disabled beneficiary so long as everything is done in the best interests of the beneficiary.
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