When it comes to your disabled child or aging parent, there are many financial considerations to be made every day. Paying for medical bills, transportation, and daily care is something that is probably always on your mind. But have you considered the financial predators that may be targeting your loved one?
Keep reading to learn how to protect your loved one from being swindled out of a lot of money – and find out what you can do right now to protect them.
When Financial Predators Strike
Imagine the scene: your child with special needs, now an adult, has been living off the money you placed in their savings account years ago. This money pays for their daily care, a special vehicle, education, and other basic needs.
(They didn’t qualify for Medicaid because of those funds in their bank account, by the way, but you figure that’s okay – they will have plenty of money to survive.)
One day, someone calls or sends them an email asking for money. Or maybe they don’t ask; maybe it’s a full-fledged scam, and they somehow coerce your child into giving up thousands of dollars. Because of your child’s disability, they aren’t able to recognize that something fishy is going on, and they cave.
Whether or not your child ever realizes it was a scam is beside the point. They had the money, they gave the money to the predator, and now the money is gone. Will it ever be recovered? Maybe, but it will be a lengthy and expensive process, and those assets might never turn up again.
Now, your child with special needs doesn’t have the money they need – and they don’t know where to turn.
Prevent This Scenario with a Special Needs Trust
The scene above could easily happen (and does happen) to the elderly, too. If your aging parent suffers from dementia, what’s to stop them from emptying their bank account into the hands of a criminal?
A special needs trust, that’s what.
When your disabled loved one’s assets are contained in a special needs trust, only the trustee has the power to distribute them. That means that no matter who asks your child for money, or how badly your elderly parent wants to send money to that Nigerian prince who wrote her a letter, they can’t access those funds without going through the trustee.
And if you’ve chosen your trustee (and your co-trustee) well, then the whole thing should stop in its tracks right there.
Not only does a special needs trust protect your loved one from financial predators, it also keeps them eligible for Medicaid and other government benefits.
(Remember how your child couldn’t get those benefits because you put money in their savings account? If you’d placed it in a special needs trust instead, they would have government benefits and extra money for other things not covered by Medicaid.)
The bottom line is this: your disabled loved one needs their assets to be protected by more than just a bank account. And if you set up a special needs trust to hold those assets, you take a lot of risk and trouble out of their future.
Call Alabama Family Trust Today!
If you’re ready to start a conversation about placing your loved one’s assets in a special needs trust, contact us right away. We can help you understand all the ins and outs of trusts, and by the end of the process, you’ll rest easy knowing your loved one is protected!