How to Create a Special Needs Trust: What to Include

A Special Needs Trust (SNT) is a unique document individually prepared for the benefit of a disabled beneficiary under the age of 65. This article explains the types of information required in this trust and the ways in which an attorney can greatly assist you in preparing it.

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What is a spendthrift trust?

A spendthrift trust limits, by either amount or purpose, the way that your money will be given to your surviving offspring. By setting up a spendthrift trust, there will be more money to give for a longer period of time.

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Family Trusts

Family trusts are designed to provide for or distribute wealth to your surviving family members in the event of your death. Family trust is a generic term used to describe a number of different trusts that provide for minor children, widows and widowers, and surviving adult children.

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What is a pourover trust?

Not to be confused with a pour-over will, a pour over trust is simply a way to plan for incapacity. Unlike a will, the pour over trust is not administered by a court, so its contents and terms are not part of the public record. A pour over trust allows a donor to set up a trust and act as trustee, or manager, during his or her life. Assets can be added to the trust during the trustee’s lifetime. Those assets stay in the trust until the trustee’s death. Sometimes, a person will name him or herself’co-trustee’ with an investment firm or trust company.

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Special Needs Trusts: Eligibility for Federal & State Assistance

If you have a child with special needs, you want to be sure that once you are gone, he or she will be well taken care of. Special needs individuals under the age of 65 are eligible for Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and other benefit programs as long as they do not have more than $2,000 in their own name.

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When Trustees Waste or Steal Trust Assets

Breach of fiduciary duty by a trustee, which can range from poor investing to outright theft, can be monitored, prevented, and remedied. As a beneficiary of the trust, you have the right to request a trust accounting, and you may be able to have the trustee removed or hold the trustee liable for whatever trust assets were lost through the trustee’s breach of fiduciary duty.

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What is a simple trust?

Trusts are generally created as a way to manage property, such as cash or real estate, and transfer it to someone else at a certain point in time. A simple trust, also known as a bare trust, is one to which the trustee does not have to do anything other than ensure that the trust property is given to the named beneficiary within the time frame specified by the trust.

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Trustee Fees: Guideline for Trustee Compensation

Trustees are the main person responsible for following the wishes of the creator of the trust (trustor) as articulated in the trust agreement, and are responsible for overseeing the management and distribution of the trust assets. A trustee is often a close friend or family member of the trustor, however, whether trustees have a personal connection to the trustor or not, they are almost always given a trustee fee for performance of their duties.

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What is an annuity trust?

A trust allows a person to set aside his or her property to be managed by another individual for the benefit of others. An annuity trust is one of several different types of trusts. When establishing an annuity trust, the settlor places property in the trust and the trustee not only manages the property but also pays the settlor or the beneficiaries a fixed income for a set period of time.

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