This letter informs trustees, guardians, advocates and others involved in the care for the client’s family member with a disability about the family member’s functional abilities, routines, interests and likes and dislikes. This isn’t a legal document but a practical one. It should be drafted using a conversational voice and should grow with the family member and be updated regularly. A guide to drafting a Letter of Intent can be found here.

Sometimes called a “supplemental needs trust” or “SNT,” this specialized trust allows assets to pay for goods or services that are in the beneficiary’s best interest, while also maintaining the beneficiary’s eligibility for means-tested government assistance programs. In planning for an individual with special needs, money isn’t everything—there may be residences or programs that require the person with special needs to be eligible for benefits such as Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income and don’t accept private payment. An SNT allows the beneficiary to have the best of both worlds.

The letter of intent provides some guidance to the trustee concerning how your client envisions supplementing his family member’s care, but he may also want to include specific language in the SNT to inform distributions. Specifically, he may want to authorize the trustee to hire care managers, advocates and other professionals who can guide the trustee on the expenditure trust funds.

When you prepare the client’s plan, it’s ideal to avoid or minimize the role of court-appointed guardians or trustees. Typically, once the matter goes to court, the court will have a say in your client’s family member’s care, and litigation of course is time consuming and financially burdensome for all involved. Set up the SNT during your client’s lifetime, not in his will, as trusts created by a will are typically subject to a court’s interventions.

Your client should consider the beneficiary’s current lifestyle and how much money will be ideal to support it. Keep in mind that because of a variety of factors, your client may choose to allot more or less to the individual with a disability than to similar beneficiaries who don’t have a disability.

If your client doesn’t have sufficient assets to fund the SNT immediately, consider life insurance that will fund the trust, which is often a good solution for a young family; and ...

If your client’s family is wealthy, consider capping the amount left to the SNT or using a pot trust or a sprinkle provision to allow the trustee to use trust assets in excess of a certain amount for other family members.

Retirement accounts have their own set of specific planning considerations that make them a less than ideal method of funding a SNT; for this reason, this should be avoided when possible. If your client needs to fund the SNT with retirement assets, it’s essential that the SNT be set up to qualify as a designated beneficiary and that care is taken in designating remainder beneficiaries. The best course of action is to fill out the designation of beneficiary forms for the asset to ensure smooth funding.

The trustee is the quarterback of the plan who can hire financial advisors, attorneys, accountants, bookkeepers, social workers and care managers. The trustee can delegate but must oversee everything. Corporate trustees are an option if the trust is large enough. A client should look for a bank with special needs experience and a willingness to administer an SNT. If your client uses a corporate trustee, advise adding an individual family member or friend as a co-trustee to work with the corporate trustee who has expertise in SNTs.

The special needs estate plan goes beyond just ensuring that the SNT is properly set up. You must also make sure that your client’s other estate-planning documents, like powers of attorney and trusts, are set up to take the SNT into account. For example, the POA should give someone the power to fund the SNT with assets from the will or any other trusts from which there’s even a remote possibility that a loved one with a disability will inherit. It should reflect that any distributions that would otherwise go to the individual with a disability instead be diverted to the SNT.

If a client determines that anyone wants to leave something to the disabled beneficiary, you should provide language that it can pass on to those family members that will allow them to divert their bequests to the SNT. This will avoid the need for a guardian, a loss of eligibility for needed benefits or other complications. Additionally, your client may need to review any existing family trusts, especially life insurance trusts or gifting trusts that would distribute directly to the beneficiary with a disability. Look for provisions in which your client’s family member with a disability is a contingent beneficiary and determine if he has rights of withdrawal, as either of these circumstances could interfere with his eligibility for needed benefits.

If your client’s family member with a disability already has money in their name, there’s another type of SNT allowed under federal law, commonly referred to as a “d4a” or “d4c” trust, that can be funded from funds belonging to an eligible person. ABLE accounts may also be an option for preserving a person with a disability’s assets for their use while maintaining their eligibility for government benefits. Determine which type of exempt trust would be best suited for your client’s family member’s circumstances.

Please note that funds belonging to the individual with a disability should be kept strictly separate from any third-party funds, as the rules requiring payback to the state for the cost of benefits when a beneficiary dies, if properly managed, will attach only to funds owned by the individual or “first-party” funds.