If you have a loved one with a disability, you may know firsthand that they require more financial assistance than your other loved ones. With that in mind, you may struggle with the balance between giving them a majority of your estate without completely excluding your other desired beneficiaries. All the while, you may not want to compromise their eligibility to collect Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid, and other government benefits programs. Please read on to discover how much you should plan to leave behind for your loved one with a disability and how a seasoned Broward County estate planning lawyer at The Probate Lawyers can help you come up with a thoughtful strategy.
How much money should I leave for my loved one with a disability?
You may be almost positive that your loved one with a disability will require financial support for their entire lives. And you may also know the likelihood that they will survive you. So, for your estate plan, you must do your best to project their future expenses accurately.
For this, you may first consider the daily expenses that their government benefits do not necessarily cover. For example, they may participate in alternative therapies that have been found to help them significantly; they may employ private duty nursing if there is no other relative or loved one who can provide continuous skilled care for their complex condition; and they may engage in certain recreational activities that improve their quality of life.
Then, you must factor in the cost of these services based on their geographic location, the chances of them requiring evolving, more intensive care needs, their life expectancy, etc. Understandably, this may be completely overwhelming to judge on your own. This is why we will likely employ a financial planner on your behalf, who will know how to use specialized financial modeling tools to guide you on decisions about insurance, savings, trust funding, and more.
Should I leave my house or property to my loved one with a disability?
Along with concerning yourself with how your loved one with a disability will support themselves financially when you are gone, you may equally worry about their housing situation. With this, you may be tempted to leave your house or secondary real estate property to them in your estate plan. While this is a selfless gesture, you must handle this in a very specific way to make it the most beneficial for them.
That is, if your loved one owns a property outright, this may become a countable asset that tips them over the resource limits for their government benefits programs. For this reason alone, we may dissuade you from making a direct transfer. Instead, we may advise you to utilize a special needs trust. Here, your loved one, as the named beneficiary, may maintain the right to live in the house while the trust itself technically retains legal ownership.
Depending on your and your loved one’s unique circumstances, you may also consider alternative options like life estates, housing trusts, and long-term housing arrangements managed by trustees. For further legal guidance, please look no further than a competent Broward County estate lawyer. When you work with The Probate Lawyers, you can trust that you are in good hands. Schedule a consultation with us today.
