What’s keeping you up at night? Is it the diagnosis you know is missing? The therapist you can’t find? Worries about the future and issues like medical treatments, therapy, schools and colleges, employment, estate planning, and your own ability just to cope with it all?
We’ve been there. Life planning when you have a special needs child can feel like an overwhelming and all-consuming task. Many special needs parents and families try to chart this journey on their own, compiling information, resources, and services the best they can. For many, it is a constant struggle.
But it doesn’t have to be. With the right professional guidance, special needs planning can be a journey you undertake with clarity and confidence. As experienced professionals in this field – as well as being special needs parents ourselves – we’ve made it our life’s work to provide this guidance to as many families as possible.
Our Special Needs Master Plan approach is a high-touch, concierge service that addresses the needs and goals of the entire family. No matter where you are in the life planning process, we will work with you to create a customized plan that includes a Funding Strategy, a Legal Strategy, and a Support Strategy, and that helps ensure you’ll have the resources and services you need to meet your needs and achieve your goals as a family.
Transitions
Our children’s lives are ever-changing, but if we can visually foresee the timeline of those changes, we can make them more manageable. We’ll help you create a timetable that addresses four key stages of development and helps prepare you for all the various issues and challenges you may encounter in each, depending on your family’s specific needs and situation:
Stage 1: Birth to Age 3 – Diagnosis and prognosis; early intervention waivers; individual education plans, school systems.
Stage 2: Age 3 to 17 – Transition planning, which focuses on resources and services designed to improve the outcomes of students with special needs and disabilities in the transition from middle/secondary education to post-secondary education and employment.
Stage 3: Age 17 to Parents/Caregivers Retirement – As your child becomes an adult, issues may include employment, living arrangements; guardianship; college funding; social and recreational support; Social Security Insurance and Disability Insurance options; and more.
Stage 4: Retirement and Rest of Life – Issues in this stage include your retirement plan; Medicare and Social Security strategies; SSDI and Disabled Adult Child Benefits, lifetime supplemental needs trust planning; estate planning and remainder interest. Additionally, this is the time where you have to think about the transition to when you are no longer able to care for your child and may need additional help yourself.
We know that planning for families with special needs is extraordinarily complex – but you don’t have to go it alone. We are here to help, and we invite you to schedule a free consultation with us to learn more.