July Newsletter – Microboard

What is a microboard?
A microboard is a legal entity established as a formal circle of supportors and advocates (your board of directors) working together on behalf of an individual with a disability.

What role does a microboard play?
It provides ongoing advocacy for the individual with the disability. Research shows that parents and family members are often the ones providing daily support to their loved one with a disability which includes helping to make sure services are in place and addressing additional needs as they arise. However, as parents age and other family members get busy with life, sometimes all of the advocacy and support falls on one member of the family, often a parent. A microboard puts in place a team of people who care about the family and individual with a disability and are able to work together to support them by ensuring needed services are in place.

Who are my microboard members and why should I believe they will advocate for my loved one?
Microboard members can be friends, church/synagogue members, other family members (siblings, cousins, etc), former therapists with a strong bond with your loved one, attorneys, financial advisors, and others working in the disability community.

We have found that having a formal process in place with a legal framework to follow changes board members’ behaviors and mindset. They start to take a more proactive approach in protecting and advocating for the person with a disability.

How does the microboard collaborate with a trustee, guardian, case manager or service provider?
The microboard serves as a group of supporters and advocates who know the individual with a disability and are able to provide advice and guidance to those in a formal role of support, such as trustees, guardians, case managers and service providers.

What Trustee Advice Might Look Like: A Special Needs Trustee is responsible for distributing funds from the trust according to the trust’s instructions. At times, the trustee may not be sure if a disbursement request is in line with the trust’s instructions and in accordance with what is best for the beneficiary. For example, let’s say the beneficiary asks the trustee to pay for a vacation to Paris. However, the trustee is concerned because the beneficiary has never expressed an interest in traveling, let alone to Paris. The trustee can call a meeting with the microboard and solicit their help in learning more about the request. Is this request something the beneficiary is interested in and makes sense? Or is the request the product of someone taking advantage of them such as a new friend who wants to go to Paris and is using the beneficiary for their funds? In contrast, when a microboard is not in existence, the trustee may need to hire a care manager to investigate the request, which costs additional funds and the care manager may not know the beneficiary and their specific needs. If you have a microboard and a special needs trust, it is important for the special needs trust to say it takes advice from the microboard in these situations.

How a Microboard Provides Guardian Support: Often the guardian is also the primary caregiver, providing the majority of support to the individual with a disability. This could include making appointments, taking the individual to appointments, following up on medications, paying bills, serving as the representative payee on social security, and essentially providing advocacy on all fronts. A microboard helps to share in some of that responsibility by taking a team approach to support. Instead of one person holding all of the responsibility, the microboard members can help take on tasks. Maybe the guardian remains the representative payee, but another member on the board takes on the role of being the primary source of communication to the individual’s service providers. And perhaps another microboard member sets aside time each month to check in on any advocacy needs. We have found that the families we support with microboards feel that there is collaboration in providing care as well as a continuum of support since the responsibilities are distributed among several people, not just one. In contrast, families without a formal microboard are often those in which the primary caregiver is serving multiple roles which can put their own health and wellness at risk due to the stress and it can impact the individual with a disability’s continued care, if the sole caregiver is suddenly unavailable to provide assistance.


How a Microboard Helps Case Managers and Providers: Often an individual with a disability is receiving services from various providers which can include public benefits case managers, doctors, therapists, agencies, etc. However, these services operate independently, without collaboration across agencies. This means that the primary caregiver is often driving the communication and coordination among the different providers, working to keep up with the needs and pulling it all together on behalf of the individual with a disability. Instead, a microbard can share in that responsibility by creating a coordinated process to share information and by delegating support needs to microboard members. Further, the microboard as a group is educated on the needs of the person with a disability so that key support information is not limited to one caregiver, but is shared among the group of providers. Again, this is what helps to ensure lifelong support for the individual with a disability.

How do you implement a microboard?
It is established as a legal entity through articles of incorporation appropriate to the state in which it is established, as well as bylaws that direct how it functions including how many members are on the board, what roles they play on the board, how often they meet, and any other topics relevant to that particular microboard and individual.