When you are raising a child with disabilities, planning for the future means thinking beyond who gets the house or Grandma’s jewelry.
You may wonder who will provide support, understand your child’s routines, and make sure the money you leave actually helps.
Those questions can stay with you long after the rest of the house is asleep.
Here on the South Coast, we look out for our people. Planning for your child’s future is an extension of that care.
At Shore Estate Law, we help families explore ways to provide financial support while protecting access to important benefits.
Why a Direct Inheritance Can Create Problems
Leaving money directly to your child feels natural. Unfortunately, some benefit programs have rules that can turn a loving gift into a financial complication.
Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, generally limits an individual to $2,000 in countable resources. An inheritance can affect eligibility as income when received and as a resource if retained.
Imagine leaving your adult child $50,000 outright. If they receive SSI, that inheritance could interrupt benefits.
Certain MassHealth coverage categories also have financial eligibility requirements, although the rules vary by program.
The question is not simply how much to leave. It is how to leave it.
How a Special Needs Trust Can Help
A special needs trust, also called a supplemental needs trust, can provide a structure for managing money for someone with disabilities.
Instead of directing an inheritance to your child personally, you direct it into an appropriately drafted trust.
A trustee manages the funds under the trust’s terms and applicable benefit rules.
The money may support transportation, education, technology, recreation, personal assistance, and other expenses that improve daily life.
That could mean reliable transportation to activities or equipment that supports greater independence.
Administration matters, too. Cash paid directly to the beneficiary or certain shelter payments can affect SSI, even when the trust itself is not a countable resource.
Third-Party and First-Party Special Needs Trusts Are Not the Same
The names sound technical, but the starting question is straightforward: Whose money is funding the trust?
A third-party special needs trust holds assets belonging to someone else, such as a parent or grandparent.
A first-party special needs trust holds assets that already belong to the person with disabilities, perhaps from an outright inheritance or legal settlement.
Qualifying first-party trusts have specific requirements and generally must provide for Medicaid reimbursement from remaining assets after the beneficiary dies.
A properly structured third-party trust funded entirely with other people’s assets generally avoids that particular federal payback requirement.
Planning before an inheritance reaches your child can preserve options that become more limited afterward.
ABLE Accounts Can Add Flexibility
An ABLE account is a tax-advantaged savings account for qualified disability expenses.
Beginning in 2026, eligibility expanded to qualifying individuals whose disability began before age 46, rather than before age 26. Other eligibility requirements still apply.
For SSI purposes, the first $100,000 in an ABLE account is generally excluded from countable resources.
The standard annual contribution limit is $20,000 in 2026, with additional contributions available to certain working beneficiaries.
These accounts can help pay for housing, transportation, education, and other qualified expenses.
However, contribution limits, withdrawal rules, and potential Medicaid recovery need attention. An ABLE account may complement a special needs trust, but it may not accommodate a substantial inheritance on its own.
The tools should fit your child’s life and benefits.
Beneficiary Designations Need to Match the Plan
Creating a trust is a meaningful step. Making sure assets actually reach it is another.
Life insurance, retirement accounts, and certain other accounts transfer according to beneficiary designations, which generally operate separately from your will.
Suppose your will directs your child’s inheritance into a trust, but your life insurance still names your child personally.
The insurance proceeds may go directly to your child, creating the very problem you intended to prevent.
Review these designations together with your estate planning documents. Retirement accounts require particular care because tax rules also affect the choices.
Paperwork coordination may lack glamour, but it does important work.
Grandparents and Other Relatives Should Understand the Plan
This is the South Coast. Family support often extends well beyond one household.
Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and siblings may also want to leave something meaningful to your child.
A grandparent who leaves each grandchild $25,000 may not realize that the same gift can have different consequences for a grandchild receiving means-tested benefits.
Let relatives know there is a plan and how their attorney can coordinate with it.
They do not need every private detail. They need enough information to direct their generosity appropriately.
Leaving Everything to a Sibling Is Not the Same as Having a Plan
“Can I leave the money to my other child and ask them to help?”
It is an understandable question, especially when siblings are close.
But money inherited personally by a sibling belongs to that sibling. It may become vulnerable to their creditors, divorce, death, or changing circumstances.
It also leaves important expectations without a formal structure.
A sibling may be an appropriate trustee, depending on their abilities and willingness. That allows them to help while keeping trust assets separate from their own property.
Special Needs Planning Is About More Than Money
Behind these financial questions is a deeply personal one: Who will understand my child when I am no longer here?
Consider housing, caregivers, friendships, transportation, routines, and the activities that make life enjoyable.
Include your child’s preferences and participation wherever possible. Their voice belongs in this conversation.
At Shore Estate Law, I approach planning as your attorney and your neighbor, helping families in Wareham, Massachusetts, and throughout our South Coast community connect financial decisions with everyday life.
Planning Ahead Can Protect Both the Inheritance and the Benefits
You can provide for your child without assuming an inheritance must disrupt essential support.
An appropriate trust, coordinated beneficiary designations, and an ABLE account where suitable can work together toward that goal.
Start with a conversation about your child, their benefits, and what you hope to make possible.
