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Special Needs Trusts & Disability Planning Attorneys in NJ

Planning for the future of a loved one with a disability requires care, foresight, and the right legal protections. At Puff, Sierzega & MacFeeters, we assist families in New Jersey in creating special needs trusts, guardianships, and comprehensive estate plans that ensure long-term financial security and peace of mind.

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The Importance of Disability and Special Needs Planning

Disability and special needs planning is essential to protecting your loved ones and their future. At Puff, Sierzega & MacFeeters, our experienced estate lawyers help families create strategies that ensure proper care while preserving eligibility for vital state and federal benefit programs. Families with children, siblings, parents, or spouses with special needs can rely on our team to provide tailored legal guidance that safeguards both quality of life and long-term security.

Protecting Benefits Through Special Needs Planning

A common goal is to maximize government benefit programs, including Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), and Medicaid. Because these government programs are means-based, they enforce strict financial limitations on personal eligibility.

Accordingly, receipt of resources or assets would disqualify a disabled individual from the needs-based programs they rely upon, which could disrupt their standard of living. For instance, if parents with a special needs child pass away and leave the child as a beneficiary, either by will or by life insurance designation, the special needs individual’s inheritance would disqualify him or her from their government benefit program. Therefore, proper and specific special needs planning is crucial for families with disabled loved ones.

Special Needs Trusts

The keystone of disability or special needs planning is the use of a Special Needs Trust. A special needs trust, also known as a supplemental needs trust, is designed to enable a disabled individual to maintain eligibility for needs-based government benefit programs while providing supplemental resources to enhance their quality of life.

Since government benefit programs are only intended to provide disabled individuals with basic needs, such as food, shelter, clothing, and medical care, a special needs trust offers non-necessities items, including birthday and holiday gifts, electronics, educational expenses, and vacations.

Overall, the purpose of the trust is to supplement, not supplant, government benefits. Special Needs Trusts are subject to stringent legal requirements to ensure the trust operates correctly, excluding the trust corpus from the disabled beneficiary’s personal income calculation.

The most essential requirement is that the State must receive all amounts remaining in the trust upon the death of the trust beneficiary up to the amount equal to the total medical assistance paid on behalf of the individual under a State plan. In addition, the trust must contain, with specificity, the key language, “the purpose of the trust is to permit the use of trust assets to supplement, not supplant, impair or diminish, any benefits or assistance of any Federal, State or other governmental entity for which the beneficiary may otherwise be eligible or which the beneficiary may be receiving.” Furthermore, the trust must be stated as being for the sole benefit of the beneficiary and must be irrevocable.

The regulatory provisions controlling special needs trusts are codified at the Federal level in 42 U.S.C. § 1396p(d)(4)(a) and in New Jersey in N.J.A.C. 10:71-4.11(g)(1).

How Special Needs Care Fits Into Your Estate Strategy

For families with special needs loved ones, disability and special needs planning is a critical component of your overall estate plan. As described above, proper estate planning for individuals with special needs can utilize and maximize government benefit programs, while providing additional non-necessary support that enhances the quality of life for your loved one.

To properly plan, however, a comprehensive estate plan needs to coincide with disability and special needs planning, not to disqualify a disabled individual from receiving government benefit assistance. Accordingly, a family should consult with and discuss their estate plan with their estate planning attorney, including their wills, non-probate asset beneficiary designations (e.g., life insurance designations, pay-on-death account beneficiary designations), and other possible trusts. At Puff, Sierzega & MacFeeters, our experienced estate planning attorneys can serve your family’s disability and special needs planning goals and objectives with personal care and attention.

Comprehensive Estate Planning Services for Families

Our approach to planning for individuals with disabilities is to be proactive and tailor a special needs trust to effectively and efficiently supplement government benefits, thereby improving their quality of life. Additionally, our estate planning attorneys can provide comprehensive estate planning services, including wills, trusts, guardianships, powers of attorney, Medicaid planning, and more. To schedule a consultation with one of our disability and special needs planning attorneys, call (856) 845-0011 or contact us online.