Special Needs Planning

The trust you create with your own money for a child, grandchild, or sibling with a disability, and the cleanest tool in this area. Because the funds were never the beneficiary's, no Medicaid payback is required at death and the remainder passes to whoever you name. The trustee must hold pure discretion, and your money must never be commingled with the beneficiary's own.

Without it:Without one, an inheritance in your child's name can end SSI, Medicaid, and housing assistance the month it arrives.

For money that already belongs to the person with the disability: a settlement, an inheritance that arrived outright, or accumulated savings. Federal law at 42 U.S.C. 1396p(d)(4)(A) lets those funds go into a trust without a transfer penalty when the beneficiary is disabled and under age 65 at establishment and funding, with the state repaid at death for the assistance it provided.

Without it:Without it, the person spends the settlement down toward $2,000 and loses years of benefits along the way.

A nonprofit runs one master trust and keeps a separate subaccount for each beneficiary. Federal law places no age limit on a pooled account, which makes it the practical option for someone 65 or older and for sums too small to justify a standalone trustee. Funding after 65 is an area where the written rules and Florida practice do not line up cleanly, so we walk you through the risk rather than call it settled.

Without it:Without a pooled option, an older beneficiary with a modest sum has no shelter for their own money.

A tax advantaged savings account the beneficiary controls, useful for everyday costs a trustee would be slow to cover. As of January 1, 2026 eligibility widened to disability onset before age 46, up from age 26. Florida's program is ABLE United, and under Fla. Stat. 1009.986(7)(b) state Medicaid may not file a recovery claim against an ABLE account. Contribution limits are modest, so it usually complements a trust rather than replacing one.

Without it:Without one, small routine spending has to run through the trustee, which is slower and costlier than necessary.

Not a legal document, and often the most important paper in the binder. It tells the next trustee, guardian, or sibling how your loved one takes their medicine, what calms them, which therapist to keep, what they love, and what they cannot tolerate. We give you the framework, and you fill it with what only you know.

Without it:Without it, the people who step in after you are guessing at everything that made your loved one's days work.

The trust only works if the rest of the plan points at it: retirement and life insurance beneficiary designations routed to the trust rather than the person, grandparents' and siblings' wills updated so a well meant bequest does not disqualify, and a decision at age 18 between guardian advocacy under Fla. Stat. 393.12 and a power of attorney with a health care surrogate.

Without it:Without coordination, one outdated beneficiary form can undo a trust that took months to build.