Estate Planning

In some cases a parent or family member can handle the job of trustee of a special needs trust perfectly well, but in other cases the task can simply become overwhelming. Here are some warning signs that a professional trustee...

Parents and grandparents of people with special needs have a unique opportunity to make life much easier for their children or grandchildren by creating a first-party special needs trust while they are still living.

You may have heard that special needs trusts are required to reimburse the government for Medicaid expenses incurred by the trust's beneficiary when she passes away, and, in some cases, this is true. But not all special needs trusts are...

SSDI payments, like old-age Social Security retirement benefits, can be taxed, depending on the SSDI beneficiary's other income. Because the rules governing the taxation of SSDI payments can be very confusing, we have put together a short primer to explain...

The Social Security Administration (SSA) recently proposed new regulations for how it determines whether someone with a mental disorder is eligible for disability payments. Mental health advocates are concerned that the proposed rules will lead to the use of...

Gift cards are the most popular holiday gifts, but they can cause problems for recipients who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Here are some things to consider before purchasing a gift card for a person with special needs during this...

Several little-noticed provisions of the recently-enacted law that extended the Bush-era tax cuts fundamentally alter how the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid programs treat tax refunds and other tax credits, making it easier for people with special needs to...

On the heels of the announcement of a 3.6 percent increase in Social Security benefits in 2012 comes news that Medicare's monthly premium will be much lower than expected next year -- and will actually drop for millions of beneficiaries.

A recent case from California illustrates what can happen when good intentions go awry and you rely on a generic estate plan to distribute funds to a relative with special needs.