Special Needs Trust Attorneys Serving Redford, & Southeastern Michigan
A special needs trust is a great way to ensure you maintain yours or your loved ones’ governmental benefits. When drafting your special needs trust form, it is important to have an attorney who has a significant amount of experience in wills & trusts, especially special needs trusts.
Our trust attorneys have over 30 years’ experience in drafting customized special needs trusts that are catered to your specific needs.
Call our Special Needs Trust Lawyers for more information today.
313-532-2100!
Special Needs Trusts: What The Trust Protects:
A Special Needs Trust protects the government benefits your disabled heir is receiving, while still providing that heir with funds to supplement those benefits.
If your son or daughter is receiving Social Security Disability, SSI, or certain other government benefits, you can provide funds to them, through a special needs trust, to supplement those benefits without having to worry about them losing their eligibility.
These funds can be used for vacations, extraordinary expenses, even to buy a new TV; whatever your Trustee believes to be in the best interests of your heir, within certain guidelines.
Special Needs Trust Guidelines in Michigan
The guidelines of a special needs trust are dictated by Michigan and Federal law. These laws restrict the amount of available funds to the recipient(s) of certain governmental benefits; (Medcaid, Social Security Disability, etc…).
Therefore, if you gave your special needs beneficiary a lump sum of money their government benefits could be discontinue until that sum of money is spent.
A special needs trust is a legal way to provide additional funds for certain expenditures for your special needs beneficiary. The special needs trust trustee is responsible for distributing the funds within the trust to the beneficiary.
A special needs trust allows one with special needs to receive additional funds without jeopardizing their governmental benefits.
Our special needs trust attorneys are well versed in the laws pertaining to special needs trusts, and can help you get your special needs trust set up quickly to ensure you or your loved ones don’t lose out on any of the benefits they deserve.
Special Needs Trust Fund in Michigan
A special needs trust fund can be set up for a person with special needs as a part of a special needs trust. This special needs trust is typically part of a larger revocable trust. Once the person who created the revocable trust passes away, the funds within that trust become available to the successor trustee whom then is responsible to distribute those funds to their beneficiaries.
However, our special needs trust attorneys draft special needs trusts for their clients that allows the beneficiaries of the trust access to the funds prior to the death of the person who created the special needs trust.
If you have any questions about a special needs trust call our trust lawyers for more information today. 313-532-2100!
Frequently Ask Questions about Special Needs Trusts in Michigan
My parents set up a Special Needs Trust for my brother, and I am the Trustee. Do I have to file a tax return for the Trust?
The answer is yes, if the trust earns any income. Make sure you do so promptly each year that taxes are due in order to avoid paying penalties and/or interest.
For more information on Michigan Fiduciary returns, see: Michigan Fiduciary Income Tax Return PDF (http://www.michigan.gov/documents/taxes/MI1041book_345213_7.pdf)
If you do not feel like reading through all the legal jargon in that PDF, feel free to give our special needs trust attorneys a call, they’ll be happy to answer and questions for you. 313-532-2100.
My husband and I want to set up a Special Needs Trust for our son, who is on SSI. Can we have the trust account at our credit union, or does it have to be at a regular bank? We are not getting satisfactory answers from our credit union.
We typically recommend using a commercial bank. In order to have an account at a credit union, you have to be a member. Many credit unions define a member as an actual person, rather than an entity like a Trust. Banks handle these kinds of accounts all the time.
John Keenan – Attorney at Law
Jan Keenan – Attorney at Law
If you have any questions about drafting a special needs trust in Michigan, please contact our attorneys at your earliest convenience either by phone, by email, or by using the form on this website. Thanks for visiting! We hope to talk to you soon.