Special Needs Trusts

Special Needs Trusts

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If you have a child or other beneficiary with special needs or who is or may receive governmental benefits, careful estate planning is required.  Guerra TWP has experience and special knowledge and expertise in representing families with special needs children or other beneficiaries.

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Someone with “special needs” may be anyone with a physical, mental, emotional, or behavioral disability.  Guerra TWP assists in structuring trusts for beneficiaries with special needs without disqualifying them from important financial aid opportunities from the government, such as Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).  A specific type of trust, also known as a “Supplemental Needs Trust,” allows you to provide for your special needs beneficiary while ensuring he or she continues to receive government benefits.  Through such a trust, he or she can receive benefits not provided by the government so that he or she may maintain a higher quality of life.

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This is a unique area which requires special expertise.  In addition, we have experience in preparing first party special needs trusts governed under 42 USC 1396(p)(d)(4)(A), which are designed to hold the assets of the special needs individual which are already held in his or her name to allow the individual to qualify for governmental benefits.

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Guerra TWP routinely assists clients in the following planning:

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• Preparation of first-party Supplemental Needs Trusts;

• Preparation of third-party Supplemental Needs Trusts;

• Preparation of Letters of Intent;

• Decanting of existing trusts which disqualify special needs beneficiaries to new Supplemental Needs Trusts to obtain governmental benefits; and

• Preparation of special powers of attorney and health care proxies.