Dealing with financial situations where not everything is covered by benefits can be difficult to navigate. Someone might not have all the assets to cover their living expenses, or they may not be able to have enough assets in traditional bank accounts to enable to cover their expenditures.
Living with a disability can be a challenge on several levels, especially when you’re trying to live a qualitative life without forfeiting your benefits.
For those who have special needs and loved ones with special needs, there is still hope. Minnesota Special needs trusts can be crafted to help with the aforementioned situations. There are also situations where they can be created in light of an incoming inheritance. Trust law can work to help benefit you in the long run. That said, here’s some more information on how you might be able to utilize a special needs trust or help someone you love.
What is a Special Needs Trust in Minnesota?
At its basis, a special needs trust will usually be put into place to help cover the expenses that may otherwise not be paid for. Should something not be covered by public assistance payments, this trust may prove beneficial. Most forms of trusts, wills, and other estate planning components serve as backup. Special needs trusts do that, but they’re meant to come into effect when other money isn’t doing enough. In a sense, they’re trusts that exists in case the money isn’t there.
As a note of caution, budgeting is key. Trusts that involve cash are usually meant to last for some amount of time. Your best starting place, in light of such, might be to find out what things can or will be covered by public assistance payments. Knowing what the trust will need to cover is key.
Though, you should also keep in mind that laws and inflation may change how much money the person that you’re helping may need. It’s ideal to budget for having to put more into the trust than less.
Special Needs Trust Law
Disqualifying the person that you’re helping from receiving Social Security benefits should probably be something to avoid at all costs. Unless you’re planning on paying their full living costs so they no longer need government assistance, you should really get to know and follow the laws surrounding their benefits. Your hypothetical beneficiary may not have any power in how much they receive, and they may be unable to revoke the trust once it’s in place.
Thankfully, assets which are given by a third party to the beneficiary and are put into a special needs trust will probably not be subject to repayment rules.
Other kinds of trusts or inheritances can greatly impact someone’s ability to receive benefits. This may mean that you may want to forgo placing aside any other inheritance for them. Err on the side of consulting your lawyer as not to cause your beneficiary to lose anything. A special needs trust might be the safest route to take as long as nothing else disrupts your good intentions.
Care Over the Trust
As with other forms of trusts, this kind of trust should have a trustee attached to it. In this case, they’re the person who serves as the manger of the trust so to speak. The beneficiary depends on the trustee to do their job right. So, they’ve got to be on decent terms with them to where they can at least communicate on a civil level. Distribution of the trust’s contents don’t fall to the beneficiary, but to the trustee. They’re the one that your beneficiary has to go through.
Generally, the money that is put into this fund will go into living expenses such as transportation and paying for medical costs.
This probably isn’t going to a fun fund. The trustee’s supposed to help the beneficiary ensure that they’ve got a sustainable lifestyle. That’s not to say that there won’t be bumps in the road, but their goal should to use the fund to cover what isn’t already being covered. If something is a need, the answer might be yes. Otherwise, if something is a want, the answer might be no. Vacations, surprisingly, might be able to be covered by this kind of trust.
Creating a Minnesota Special Needs Trust
Though you should always talk to your lawyer about whether or not you can actually create a special needs trust, you don’t have to be the parent of a disabled individual. You can be the former as you might want to ensure that they’re well taken care of, but that isn’t a definite prerequisite. Putting a trust to care for them is a probable possibility.
On the other side of the coin, it’s possible that someone who has a disability may also want to create a special needs trust for their own benefit. Not every inheritance is properly handled in order to make the situation beneficial for the beneficiary. In such cases, a special needs trust might be able to make things better for the inheritance that might otherwise cause larger issues. It might just be a good idea to have a special needs trust if you’re about to receive a large sum of cash.
Minnesota Special Needs Trust Lawyers
Getting a free quote is one option or you can start getting your questions answered. Being stressed about your or a loved one’s financial situation is completely understandable. So, consider seeing how a special needs trust might help things out. A trust attorney can be by your side to teach you how to do everything right. This might be your best way to keep the benefits that you need while helping make life a little bit easier to live.
Whether you are unsure about your eligibility for having a special needs trust or if you want to learn more about what that involves, consider calling 612-424-0398.
That number will help you get in touch with a Minnesota special needs trust lawyer at Flanders Law Firm LLC.
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