Effective disability planning ensures that loved ones with physical, intellectual, or cognitive disabilities can access healthcare, housing, income benefits, and long-term support. Since 1978, our legal team at Puff Sierzega & MacFeeters Law Offices has been assisting families in Gloucester County, NJ, building financial and legal protections that remain valid under New Jersey and federal benefits rules.
Our seasoned disability-planning attorneys can handle special needs trusts, supported decision-making, guardianship, and benefits coordination to ensure your family doesn’t lose essential services. They can likewise help when a sudden diagnosis, hospital discharge, or benefits denial forces your family to make decisions that are not in your best interests.
Types of Disability Planning Cases We Handle
At Puff Law, our lawyers commonly assist families with:
- Special needs trusts (first and third-party)
- Guardianship and alternatives to guardianship, including supported decision-making agreements
- SSI and SSDI coordination to avoid asset or income disqualification
- Medicaid and NJ FamilyCare benefits planning
- ABLE accounts and long-term savings options
- Transition planning for teens entering adulthood
- Caregiver succession planning for aging parents of adult disabled children
- Planning for individuals with acquired disabilities, such as traumatic brain injuries or degenerative conditions
- Crisis planning after unexpected hospitalization or loss of caregiver support
Disability planning becomes much less intimidating once every document, decision, and backup plan lines up with your family’s daily life. That’s why our Gloucester County, NJ, disability planning attorneys aim to provide families with practical tools that will work during emergencies. This way, you can spend less time worrying and more time supporting the people who depend on you.
Why a Well-Crafted Disability Plan is Crucial
Families typically assume they can save money or transfer assets informally. What they don’t know is that benefit programs have strict limits. For instance, SSI limits countable assets to $2,000 for an individual, which many families unknowingly exceed. Likewise, Medicaid reviews financial transfers within a five-year lookback period, and improper planning can delay eligibility.
Furthermore, New Jersey’s Division of Developmental Disabilities reports steady growth in the number of adults receiving community-based services, indicating that more families are relying on coordinated legal structures rather than vague, informal arrangements. When families do nothing, they discover too late that a small inheritance, an insurance payout, or a joint bank account jeopardizes vital benefits.
How We Can Protect Your Family
A well-designed disability plan does more than organize documents. It likewise protects a person’s dignity, steadies a family’s finances, and reduces avoidable crises. At Puff Sierzega & MacFeeters Law Offices, we help clients:
- Choose between a special needs trust and an ABLE account.
- Structure inheritances so they don’t cut off Medicaid or SSI.
- Navigate guardianship or use alternatives that preserve independence.
- Document caregiving roles so siblings don’t end up in conflict later.
- Prepare crisis plans for medical emergencies or caretaker incapacity.
- Coordinate with doctors, caseworkers, and service providers so the legal plan matches your family’s real-world needs.
Without a clear disability plan, families will face sudden decisions at the hospital or bank counter with no roadmap. Our Gloucester County, NJ, disability planning attorneys put those protections in place early, ensuring the right person can step in instantly, without court delays or family conflict, when a medical or cognitive crisis strikes.
Trust Our Disability Planning Attorneys with Your Case
Call Puff Sierzega & MacFeeters Law Offices at 856-845-0011 or contact us online to schedule a confidential case assessment with our Gloucester County, NJ, disability-planning lawyers.
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