10 Financial Steps for Caregivers of Students with Disabilities

(Jen): The PATINS Project invited Gordon Homes from MassMutual to tell us ten basic financial steps for caregivers of students with disabilities. [Fast Music] (Gordon): This is Gordon Homes and I am a special needs planner with MassMutual. I'm here today to talk about the ten basic financial steps for special needs caregivers. (Jen): Important disclosures. The information provided is not written or intended as specific tax or legal advice. MassMutual, its employees, and representatives are not authorized to give tax or legal advice. Individuals are encouraged to seek advice from their own tax or legal counsel. Individuals involved in the estate planning process should work with an estate planning team including, their own personal, legal or tax counsel. (Gordon): First up, what's important to you as a caregiver. As the caretaker of a dependent with special needs, you're the one that's looking out after their best interest. The question that looms heavy for many of us is what happens when you're not around? Step one in the process is to plan for the future. Plan for the future needs of your dependent with special needs, including medical, education, and housing. Step two is to review beneficiaries. Beneficiary designations, uh, with close friends, and family, as well as to look at assets, property, uh, your, um, estate, especially with special consideration for the $2,000 limit that may interfere with eligibility for Medicaid, SSI, or other government benefits. Third is to have a family meeting. Have that meeting to discuss future needs, discuss concerns, and future care options. Four is to create a team. Um, including a financial professional, special needs attorney, health professional, and someone, um, involved with the education or schooling. Five is to get additional resource support, such as from a local nonprofit. Perhaps a organization that, uh, works with individuals respective to a specific diagnosis or that part of the special needs community and then also, certainly, resources, uh, through government agencies, which can include Medicaid, Medicaid waivers, uh, Social Security, etc. Looking at government benefits, um, Medicaid is very important for health care. Medicaid waivers, of course, provide services above and beyond health care. Those can include, here in Indiana, the Family Supports Medicaid waiver, the aged and disabled waiver, uh, and the CIH or Community Integration Habilitation waiver. To qualify for these benefits, uh, there are, uh, requirements that have to be met and so a part of the planning process is to maximize on what supports and resources are available, uh, by meeting the criteria for eligibility. And then there's estate planning. Reviewing an estate plan, if one currently exists, such as wills or trusts, that type of thing. Update it periodically and, of course, include with that a special needs attorney An attorney highly educated and skilled at assisting families that have a dependent with special needs with such things as a special needs trust, guardianship, or other issues. Speaking of a special needs trust, step eight is to, uh, consider a special needs trust and how it may be helpful. Helpful in protecting eligibility for government benefits, providing a financial safety net, um, as well as helping to enhance the quality of life, uh, for your loved one with special needs for many years into the future. A special needs trust can provide for most any need that an individual with special needs has. It can be very basic needs or it could be more of a focus on quality of life. It can supplement, uh, government benefits. Um, it can provide for activities, programming, education, transportation, travel. Um, again any of the needs and a lot of the wants that an individual with special needs has. As far as restrictions are concerned with a special needs trust. Uh, one thing to consider is trying to maintain eligibility for government benefits. So we're usually sensitive to trying not to compete with government benefits, but to augment or supplement what the government is able to do. So, an individual is able to do certain things for themselves and then the government, primarily focused on food, shelter, and health care, and then the special needs trust is there to do basically everything else. What's significant about the special needs trust is there's no limit on what can be placed in a special needs trust and fortunately it does not count as an available resource for the individual with special needs. Therefore, they can enjoy the full cadre of government benefits while assets and resources sit in the special needs trust to provide for what the government can't or won't. Step nine is guardianship. Typically a consideration at age 18, um, as your child or dependent with special needs closes in on age 18, uh, guardianship is something to consider. And then also identifying a care provider. Such an important step because we as parents like to think we're invincible and we're going to be here forever but we know that that's not the case and it's very important to have the back-up plan. Um, what family member or close friend, uh, will step in to be guardian, caretaker, uh, for the family member that has special needs. A letter of intent. Step ten in the process. And that's a caregiver guide. That's all things the individual with special needs. How to get them up in the morning. Get them to bed at night and everything in between. All the important contacts. The a copy of the IEP, immunization records, copy of the birth certificate, social security card, government ID. What keys them up. What calms them down. How they recreate. Uh, who provides case management under Medicaid, Social Security contact, all the physicians, medications, treatment, medical history, and the list goes on. So, we work with families to create this document. Fortunately, we do have a template. So we try to simplify this. Just a simple process of entering data, answering questions, and it comes together. So to start the planning process involves the team. Typically, someone, uh, from the legal side, such as a special needs attorney, and then someone, uh, well-schooled and the legal, financial, and government benefit issues in the form of a special care planner, uh, like myself. So, through MassMutual, we do have special care planners. I'm a part of the network of approximately 400 special care planners nationwide. So there's one in every community. We also have affiliations with nonprofit organizations for other resources and support. And we have a network of special needs attorneys that we can work with, um, so that the legal aspects of things, including, uh, trust development, and so forth are in place. And then of course how to fund the trust. Very important. So in summary, find quality professionals to assist you. Whether it's me or someone else. What's most important is that they get special needs. They both have an understanding and a heart. The capacity to help. The focus is truly on lifetime care and quality of life. (Jen): Gordon F Homes Jr. is a registered representative of and offers securities, investment advisory services, and financial planning services through MML Investor Services, LLC. Member SIPC www dot SIPC dot org. Supervisory office 900 East 96th Street, Suite 300, Indianapolis, Indiana, four, six, two, four, zero. Phone three one seven four six nine nine nine nine nine. West Point Financial Group is not a subsidiary or affiliate of MML Investor Services, LLC or its affiliated companies.

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