A properly drafted trust helps preserve eligibility for Medicaid and SSI while ensuring funds are used for approved care and quality of life. It provides a clear framework for caregivers, avoids pitfalls like improper asset transfers, and can adapt to changing family circumstances, ensuring ongoing protection for dependents.
Comprehensive planning improves asset protection while preserving government benefit eligibility, balancing immediate care costs with long-term financial security. Trustees can direct funds for housing, therapy, and transportation within allowable limits.
Hatcher Legal, PLLC serves North Carolina families with a focus on clear communication, thorough planning, and responsive service. We tailor strategies to your unique financial situation and family structure, helping you safeguard benefits while planning for future care.
After implementation, we support ongoing administration, including annual reviews, beneficiary updates, and coordination with financial institutions to ensure distributions and investments stay aligned with current needs.
A special needs trust is a legal tool designed to hold assets for a beneficiary with a disability while preserving eligibility for public benefits, such as Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid. By placing funds in a trust rather than directly in the beneficiary’s name, families can provide for essential needs. It outlines how funds may be used, who will manage them, and what happens when the beneficiary dies, ensuring continued care while respecting the family’s values and public program rules.
A trustee can be a family member, friend, or a professional fiduciary. The key is selecting someone trusted, organized, and knowledgeable about Medicaid and disability needs and who will act in the beneficiary’s best interests. We tailor recommendations based on capacity, family goals, and program rules to balance independence with protection. Our guidance helps you choose guardianship only if needed and integrate a trust to complement it.
A Special Needs Trust is a private arrangement that manages assets without removing decision-making from the person or family. Guardianship, by contrast, places legal authority in a court-appointed guardian and may limit the beneficiary’s rights. Trusts provide protections while keeping the beneficiary involved, whereas guardianships create control but may require ongoing court oversight and more rigid decision-making. Choosing between them depends on risk, capacity, and family goals.
A properly drafted SNT is designed to be tax efficient, with income taxes owed by the trust or grantor depending on funding and provisions. Assets held within the trust may not be taxed to the beneficiary. We coordinate with your tax advisor to ensure proper reporting and optimal tax treatment while preserving public benefits. This collaborative approach minimizes surprises at tax time.
ABLE accounts offer tax-advantaged savings for disability-related expenses and generally do not affect eligibility when used within limits. A Special Needs Trust can coordinate with ABLE funds to cover larger needs without jeopardizing benefits. We review your overall plan to balance ABLE resources and trust distributions while ensuring downstream healthcare and daily supports, coordinating to maximize independence and long-term stability too.
Yes, trusts can be funded with life insurance proceeds, especially through irrevocable life insurance trusts or by designating the trust as a beneficiary. This approach preserves benefits while providing future resources. We’ll work with you to structure premiums and ownership to meet goals. Our team coordinates with insurers, attorneys, and trustees to ensure a steady funding path that aligns with long-term care plans and beneficiary needs.
Costs include attorney fees for drafting and reviewing documents, trustee coordination, and potential funding arrangements. We provide transparent pricing and breakdowns during the initial consultation. We tailor estimates to family circumstances. We provide a transparent, itemized quote during the initial consultation. We focus on value and long-term savings by reducing disputes and ensuring benefits stay intact. Your budget deserves clear, predictable pricing with no hidden charges. We provide a transparent, itemized quote during the initial consultation.
Guardianship and a special needs trust serve different purposes. Trusts manage funds while guardianship addresses decision-making authority; some families use both to cover care and safety, ensuring ongoing oversight when family members require support. We tailor recommendations based on capacity, family goals, and program rules to balance independence with protection. Our guidance helps you choose guardianship only if needed and integrate a trust to complement it.
Regular reviews are advisable at least every 1-3 years or after major life events such as marriage, birth, relocation, or changes in health or benefits. Updates keep the plan aligned with current laws. We assist with scheduled reviews and changes whenever needed. This keeps the trust effective and compliant over time. Together, we adjust strategies to reflect evolving family needs.
Most special needs trusts include a Medicaid payback provision, directing remaining assets to repay state programs after the beneficiary dies, with remaining funds distributed as the trust documents specify. The specifics vary by trust and funding. We discuss strategies to minimize disruption for family members while maintaining compliance with applicable rules.
