Special Needs Trusts For Your Disabled Children

Mark Merenda of Smart Marketing counsels attorneys in marketing their legal practice. He is quoted in this New York Times article about Meeting Special Needs and the Need for Peace of Mind regarding setting up a Special Needs Trust for a disabled child. (I know Mark through a lawyer email group that we are both on.)

Mark aptly states that, “The [living] trust is like a bucket, and if you don’t put anything in the bucket, it’s almost worse than not having the bucket,” said Mark Merenda, a Naples, Fla., marketing adviser for lawyers. “It gives you the illusion of peace of mind.”

Special Needs Trusts ("SNT") are an important component of estate planning if you have a special needs or disabled child (whether a minor or adult) that you wish to provide for when you pass away. Generally, SNTs are either stand alone trusts funded with a separate asset like a life insurance policy or it can be a subtrust in your existing Living Trust.

Either way, talk to your estate planning attorney about a SNT if you have a child with special needs.

And, getting back to Mark's quote, be sure that your Trusts are funded. If you have not signed and recorded grant deeds transferring real estate to your Trusts or named the Trust as a payable upon death beneficiary -- your Trusts may not be funded. It's a fishbowl. If it is empty, there is nothing for the successor trustee to manage upon your death.

If you have concerns about whether your Trusts are funded, consult with your attorney about this issue as well.