In this article, our Chicago special needs attorneys discuss how Special Needs Trusts are used in planning for the care of individuals with special needs.  Typically, if someone has a disability in Illinois, they are entitled to Supplemental Security Income if they have less than $2,000 in assets and earn under the maximum amount as described by SSI guidelines.  With the help of our Illinois special needs attorneys, you can create a Special Needs Trust to ensure that your  loved one with a disability can gain assets and income without reduction of benefits.  

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In this article, our Chicago special needs lawyers discuss these benefits as well as what Special Needs Trusts are allowed to pay for and what they can't under current rules. Adding a home to a special needs trust is additional benefit when calculating Supplemental Social Security Income. Special Needs Trusts cannot pay for the expenses that SSI typically covers including utilities, mortgage payments, and groceries.

In this article, our Chicago special needs attorneys discuss the differences between stand-alone special needs trusts and testamentary special needs trusts and the benefits and disadvantages of each. A special needs trust is a tool that can be used to benefit a person with a disability.  It allows the person with a disability to accumulate assets and earn income without negatively impacting government benefits. A testamentary special needs trust is one that is provided for in a third party’s will or trust.  An example is when a parent of an individual with a disability provides in her will that upon her death a special needs trust will be created for her child and that a certain portion of her estate will be transferred to the trust. A stand-alone special needs trust is one that is not created as part of a third party’s will or trust and is not contingent upon the death of that third party.  It is a separate trust document that is effective immediately.

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