The questions families ask first

A Special Needs Trust addresses what happens to assets set aside for your child. It does not replace a will, which directs how your broader estate is distributed and names guardians or other decision-makers. Most families need both, coordinated with each other rather than drafted separately. We work alongside your estate planning attorney to make sure the trust and the will are telling the same story.

You do not need a diagnosis in hand before we start the conversation. Many of the families we work with come to us while they are still in that process, and the planning questions — benefits, future caregiving, what the next few years might look like — are worth starting on either way. We adjust the plan as more becomes clear.

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A full plan — the legal review, the benefits analysis, the funding strategy, the Quality of Life Plan — is not built in a single meeting. Most families work through the full picture over several months, though the first, most urgent pieces can move faster. We tell you what to expect at each stage rather than leaving the timeline open-ended.

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It can, if it isn’t structured correctly. That’s the reason a Special Needs Trust and an ABLE account exist in the first place — to let you or your family provide additional support without disqualifying your child from means-tested benefits. We work with benefits specialists to make sure whatever we build protects the eligibility your child already has.

Often, yes — grandparents and other family members can contribute to a properly structured Special Needs Trust or, within contribution limits, an ABLE account. How they should do it, and how much, depends on your child’s benefits and the trust’s own terms, so it’s worth a conversation before anyone writes a check.

Nothing continues automatically. The legal authority you have held as a parent ends at 18 by default, even though nothing about your child’s needs has changed. Without a guardianship order, supported decision-making agreement, or power of attorney in place, you may not be able to access their medical records, make financial decisions on their behalf, or apply for adult benefits for them. This is one of the deadlines in the plan that does not wait for you to be ready.