special needs trust

[Guest guest]

Hi Jill,

We are in the process of starting a special needs trust as well. It is very

important to find a lawyer with experience. BTW, this type of trust is

sometimes called a " bubblegum trust " . Also, the lawyers fees vary greatly. We

have

spoken with several lawyers & their fees have run from $1500.00 to $5000.00

USD before they would even begin the process.

The ARC has an informative paper about special needs trusts that can be

acessed online at:

_http://www.thearc.org/development/whitepaper3.doc_

(http://www.thearc.org/development/whitepaper3.doc)

BTW, a trust thru the ARC is reasonable to start monetary-wise....however,

the client must reside in the state that it was issued in or cannot use the

funds. So unless you plan to have your child live in that same state the rest of

their life, this might not be the one for you.

I will list more URLs where there is good info & food for thought:

1) This one is thru NICHY's Estate Planning:

_http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content4/estate.dis.all.3.3.html_

(http://www.kidsource.com/kidsource/content4/estate.dis.all.3.3.html)

2) This is from the " National Special Needs Network:

_http://www.nsnn.com/frequently.htm_ (http://www.nsnn.com/frequently.htm)

3) This if from a lawyer:

_http://www.marthachurchill.com/ddsntintro.htm_

(http://www.marthachurchill.com/ddsntintro.htm)

4) There was a great article in USA Today that has great info & organization

listed for help:

(** you will first see an error 404 on that page, but scroll down....the

info IS there!)

_http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/block/0025.htm_

(http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/block/0025.htm)

5) From the Federal Citizen Info Center:

_http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/family/special-child/special2.html_

(http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/family/special-child/special2.html)

6) link to a very comprehensive book:

_http://www.disabilitiesbooks.com/special_needs_trust/_

(http://www.disabilitiesbooks.com/special_needs_trust/)

7) From " Achieving Independence " :

_http://www.achievingindependence.com/_

(http://www.achievingindependence.com/)

8) Exceptional Parent magazine has a good article about estate planning:

_http://www.eparent.com/resources/asktheexperts/Special_Needs_Trust_Expert.htm

_

(http://www.eparent.com/resources/asktheexperts/Special_Needs_Trust_Expert.htm)

As you can see there are a lot of places to go. Each state also has their

own rules about things. ALSO, remember that this info is only good for folks in

the US.

Hope this was helpful. For more resources, just Google: " special needs

trusts " with quotation marks.

Good luck,

Sandy O'Hara, mom to Kali 18yo w/DS

In a message dated 9/16/2005 6:56:33 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,

writes:

Subject: special needs trust

We're contemplating setting up a special needs trust for our son....I've

been given the impression that the special needs trusts aren't the typical,

everyday trust, so I want to make certain it's done properly...what important

questions do we need to ask? any suggestions/comments we should know before

going into this?

Thanks,

Jill

[Guest guest]

Has anyone heard about special needs trust or interested in setting up a trust

for your kid? I heard this trust from one training regarding different funding

sources for special needs children at Downtown dollar bank a few weeks ago. The

law firm conducted that workshop and their fee was about $2,000 to $3,000 for

setting up this trust. Basically if anything happened to parents and their

pension plan will go to their children but it will disqualify our chidren to

adult care thru social security or medicaid home based service if there is more

than $1,000 in any account including educational IRA, colledge advantage fund or

any bank account under the children's name. But if there is a special needs

trust fund, then it will not be calculated in that $1,000. Any child support can

be set up to this sepcial needs trust fund too. The lawyer probably can explain

better than me. Are there any info that our members can share with me? Thank

you.

Grace Lin-Fadel