Special Needs Financial Planning

EP Wealth’s Approach to Special Needs Planning

Special needs planning involves a number of moving parts, from government benefit rules to trust structures to long-term funding strategies. EP Wealth takes a planning-first approach focused on clarity, control, and coordination. We work alongside your legal and tax advisors to help bring these pieces together so that each decision supports the broader plan.

We work with families through a six-step process:

1. Discovery 
   We begin by learning about your family’s goals and values, your loved one’s care needs, and the resources currently in place. The goal is to clarify priorities and have clear direction and purpose for the planning decisions ahead.
2. Benefit Review 
   We review current or anticipated eligibility for programs such as SSI and Medicaid and discuss how different asset structures might affect those benefits. The goal is to preserve eligibility and help reduce the risk of unintended disruptions.
3. Trust and Legal Structure 
   We help you evaluate how a special needs trust fits within your broader estate plan, coordinating with your estate planning attorney to help safeguard assets properly and support your intended use of those resources.
4. Funding Strategy 
   We help you develop a strategy for funding long-term support, which may include ABLE accounts, life insurance, investment accounts, and retirement assets. The goal is to identify the right mix of tools based on your family's financial picture.
5. Family Organization 
   We review guardianship arrangements and beneficiary designations across your accounts with the goal of preventing costly mistakes, such as a designation that may inadvertently affect your loved one's benefit eligibility.
6. Implementation 
   We coordinate with your legal and tax advisors to help you execute the plan with confidence, and revisit it as laws, benefits rules, or family circumstances evolve.

Getting Started and Next Steps

Our goal is to make it simple to get started and help bring clarity with a focused plan for moving forward:

1. Identify goals and care priorities for your loved one
2. Protect benefits with proper legal and financial structure
3. Coordinate funding and long-term support strategy

Contact us to take the first step. We can help you preserve what matters most—today and for the future.

Our Special Needs Planning Services

Here's a closer look at some specific areas where EP Wealth helps families with Special Needs Planning:

Preserving Government Benefit Eligibility

Programs like SSI and Medicaid have specific income and asset thresholds that determine eligibility. Some financial decisions that may seem straightforward, such as gifting money directly to a loved one or naming them as a beneficiary on a life insurance policy, can inadvertently disqualify them from benefits they depend on. We help families identify these risks and review how your current financial structure interacts with benefit eligibility rules.

Special Needs Trust Coordination

A Special Needs Trust is designed to hold assets for the benefit of an individual with a disability without counting toward government benefit asset limits. Several types of trusts might be considered, including third-party, first-party, and pooled trusts. We help families evaluate which structure may be appropriate, coordinate with your estate planning attorney, and review beneficiary designations across retirement accounts and life insurance policies to help confirm assets are directed properly.

ABLE Accounts

ABLE accounts allow eligible individuals with disabilities to save in a tax-advantaged account for qualified expenses like housing, education, and health care without affecting benefit eligibility, up to certain balance thresholds. ABLE accounts are often used alongside a special needs trust rather than as a replacement. We help families evaluate whether an ABLE account may be a useful addition to the overall funding strategy.

Life Insurance Planning

Life insurance can play an important role in funding a special needs trust after both parents have passed. Survivorship policies, which pay out after the second parent's death, are a common consideration because the benefit is timed to when support may be needed most. We help families evaluate coverage options within the context of the broader plan, including how the policy is owned and how proceeds are directed.

Investment Management Within the Trust

Once a special needs trust is funded, the assets need to be managed in a way that reflects the beneficiary's anticipated needs and time horizon. We help manage the investment strategy within the trust, balancing growth, income, and liquidity based on factors like expected care costs, the beneficiary's age, and how the trust assets fit alongside other sources of support.

Guardianship and Family Protection Planning

Families may need to consider guardianship, conservatorship, or less restrictive alternatives depending on their state. We help families evaluate these options and coordinate with disability law attorneys. We also encourage the creation of a letter of intent, a guide for future caregivers and trustees covering the individual's routines, medical needs, and care preferences.

"Every family's situation is different, and that's why special needs planning requires such a personalized approach. Our role is to help families bring together the financial, legal, and care dimensions of their plan so that nothing is left to chance."

– Jessica Ellyson, CFP^®, Senior Financial Planner

Is Special Needs Planning Right for Your Family?

Special needs planning may be relevant for a range of family situations, including:

• Parents planning for the long-term care and financial support of a child with a disability
• Families who have received an inheritance or legal settlement on behalf of a loved one with a disability
• Grandparents who want to include a grandchild with special needs in their estate plan
• Families navigating a transition, such as a loved one aging out of school-based services or a change in care needs
• Families who want to revisit or formalize an existing informal care arrangement

If you're unsure whether special needs planning applies to your situation, a conversation with our team can help clarify your options and next steps.

How Special Needs Planning Fits into Your Overall Financial Plan

Special needs planning doesn't happen in a silo, but connects to multiple areas of your financial life:

• Financial Planning: Aligning special needs planning with broader financial goals, such as education funding, cash flow management, and retirement readiness.
• Retirement Planning: Balancing your retirement income needs with ongoing support for a loved one.
• Investment Management: Structuring portfolios in a way that reflects time horizon, liquidity needs, and long-term care funding goals.
• Estate Planning: Aligning wills, trusts, and beneficiary designations with special needs objectives.
• Tax Planning: Reviewing account types, distributions, and funding methods in coordination with your tax professional.

By integrating these elements, families can explore a structured approach that reflects both current responsibilities and long-term planning needs.

We Coordinate with Your Broader Professional Team

EP Wealth plays a coordinating role across the professionals involved in your special needs plan, helping to align your financial strategy with the legal, tax, and care decisions your other advisors are managing.

• Estate planning attorneys: We work together to align trust structures, beneficiary designations, and estate documents with the financial plan.
• Disability law specialists: We coordinate on benefit eligibility, guardianship considerations, and trust compliance with government program rules.
• Tax advisors: We use your tax advisor’s input to help inform decisions around trust distributions, gifting strategies, and retirement accounts.
• Care managers: Anticipated care costs and needs are factored into the funding strategy and trust distribution planning.
• Trustees: We help to align investment management and distributions with the goals outlined in the plan.

Our goal is to help make sure that the professionals supporting your family are working from a shared understanding of the plan and its priorities.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a special needs trust, and does my family need one?

A special needs trust is a legal arrangement designed to hold assets for the benefit of an individual with a disability without disqualifying them from means-tested government benefits like SSI and Medicaid. Whether your family needs one depends on your specific situation, including the nature and amount of assets involved, your loved one's current benefit eligibility, and your long-term planning goals. Our team can help you evaluate whether a trust may be appropriate and coordinate with your attorney on the legal structure.

Will setting up a trust affect my loved one's eligibility for SSI or Medicaid?

When structured properly, a special needs trust is designed to hold assets outside of the individual's countable resources for benefit eligibility purposes. This is one of the primary reasons these trusts exist. However, the specific rules vary depending on the type of trust and how it's funded, which is why working with both a financial advisor and an attorney who is familiar with disability law is important.

What is an ABLE account, and how does it work with a special needs trust?

An ABLE account is a tax-advantaged savings account for eligible individuals with disabilities. Its purpose is to allow the account holder to save for qualified expenses like housing, education, and health care without affecting benefit eligibility, up to certain balance thresholds. For families who also have a special needs trust in place, an ABLE account can serve as a complementary tool that gives the individual more direct access to funds for everyday expenses.

How do I make sure my retirement accounts and life insurance don't disqualify my loved one from benefits?

One of the most common and sometimes avoidable mistakes in special needs planning is naming the individual with a disability as a direct beneficiary on a retirement account or life insurance policy. If those assets pass directly to them, it could potentially push them over the asset thresholds for programs like SSI and Medicaid. Directing those assets to a properly structured special needs trust instead could potentially help preserve eligibility. We review beneficiary designations across all of your accounts as part of our planning process.

What happens to the plan if I become unable to manage it myself?

This is one of the reasons guardianship planning, trustee selection, and the letter of intent are such important parts of the process. A well-structured plan identifies who will step into key roles if a primary caregiver is no longer able to manage the plan, and provides those individuals with the information and legal authority they need. We help families think through these contingencies and put the appropriate structures in place.

How does EP Wealth work with my attorney and other advisors?

We serve as a coordinating point within your broader professional team. That means we work alongside your estate planning attorney, tax advisor, care manager, and other professionals to help align the financial plan with the legal and care strategies they're managing. We don't replace any of those roles, but we help bring the pieces together so that everyone is working from a shared understanding of the plan.

Take the Next Step

If your family is considering special needs planning, or if you'd like to review an existing plan, we're here to help. Contact EP Wealth to schedule a consultation. A focused conversation with an experienced family office services advisor can help clarify your priorities, identify planning considerations, and outline practical next steps within your broader financial strategy.