Should You Establish a Special Trust for Your Child?
Let’s talk about a special trust for your child. Not necessarily a “special needs” trust, but a trust for a beneficiary who can not manage their own finances. What’s in a name? Search for information about special needs trusts, and you’ll find plenty of entries. But you’ll also find plenty of confusion. What’s the difference […]
Explaining Third-Party Special Needs Trusts
What is the difference between a third-party special needs trust and a self-settled trust? The distinction can be way more confusing than it ought to be. The trusts are similar in a number of ways, but there are important differences. A few months ago, we explained self-settled special needs trusts in this space. Those are […]
Explaining Self-Settled Special Needs Trusts
New clients frequently come to us after they have been told that they need to “get” or “set up” a special needs trust. They often don’t realize that there are different kinds of special needs trusts. Sometimes a self-settled special needs trust is the right answer. In some cases the right approach is a third-party […]
“Decanting” of Trust for Medicaid Patient Challenged
JANUARY 11, 2016 VOLUME 23 NUMBER 2 Jane Murray (not her real name) died in 2003. She had created a number of trusts, including two for the benefit of her daughter Dana. Jane was very worried about Dana’s future, partly because of a long history of drug and alcohol abuse. She included some strong language […]
Managing a Special Needs Trust — The Handbook
APRIL 13, 2015 VOLUME 22 NUMBER 14 Are you named as trustee of a special needs trust? Are you a trust beneficiary, wondering about how the trust should be administered? Or are you a parent or grandparent of an individual with a disability, wondering about what a special needs trust might actually look like in […]
Income Taxation of the Third-Party Special Needs Trust
MARCH 23, 2015 VOLUME 22 NUMBER 12 Last week we wrote about how to handle income tax returns for self-settled special needs trusts. Our simple message: such trusts will always be “grantor trusts”, an income tax term that means they do not pay a separate tax or even file a separate return. This week we’re […]
The ABLE Act — How Will You Be Able to Use It?
DECEMBER 29, 2014 VOLUME 21 NUMBER 47 Last week we told you about the passage of The Achieving a Better Life Experience Act, and tried to spell out some of the important details. But until we can all see actual cases, it might be hard to figure out how to use the new law (and […]
Tax Issues for Trusts — Simplified
JULY 29, 2013 VOLUME 20 NUMBER 28 Judging from the questions and comments we get here, taxation of trusts is one of the most confusing issues we regularly write about. We’re going to try to collect the most important rules here for your convenience. Note that we will not try (in this summary) to touch […]
Why You Should Not Create a Special Needs Trust
JANUARY 16, 2012 VOLUME 19 NUMBER 3 Let’s say you have a child with “special needs,” or a sister, brother, mother or other family member. You have not created a special needs trust as part of your own estate plan. Why not? We know why not. We have heard pretty much all the explanations and […]
Principles Governing Third-Party Special Needs Trusts
OCTOBER 3, 2011 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 35 Last week we tried to demystify some of the principles of self-settled special needs trusts, and to distinguish them from third-party trusts. This week we continue that education effort, focusing on the rules governing third-party trusts. Generally speaking, there are two kinds of special needs trusts. Those set […]