If you have a child with disabilities and need to make long-term plans , help is available for parents in Middleton, Newburgh, Kiryas Joel or anywhere in Orange County, NY.
The New York special needs planning lawyers at the Cuddy Law Firm are dedicated to helping Orange County families ensure a more secure future for your loved ones.
This is what a special needs planning attorney can do:
- Help your child get access to benefits such as Medicaid or programs from the New York Office of People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD)
- Help you make guardianship arrangements to care for an adult child with special needs
- Help you create trusts to that protect your child’s financial resources
- Help with your estate planning so your child will be provided for in the future
It can be difficult to picture what your child will need years in advance. And it’s hard to think about these kinds of plans.
Families in Orange, Rockland , Putnam and Westchester Counties, or any place in New York State, can talk this through with lawyers from the Cuddy Law Firm.
Knowing you have a plan in place—that you’ve done everything in your power to protect the interests of your child—can be a great source of reassurance and peace.
Creating a Special Needs Trust in Orange County
A central part of most special needs plans is a special needs trust, also called a supplemental needs trust (SNTs).
And a central purpose of special needs trusts is that they can shield wealth from counting against eligibility for benefits such as Medicaid, which have limits on income and assets.
Even for someone who has resources, programs like health care through Medicaid can be a crucial part of managing life-long impairments.
In New York, special needs trusts come in several forms:
- Third-Party Trust Funded by Your Estate: This trust transfers money from you after your death.
- Third-Party Trust Funded by Contributors: This kind of trust can accept contributions from grandparents, aunts, uncles, family friends, or anyone else. It doesn’t wait until your passing to come into existence. You can set it up now.
- First-Party Trust: If your child has assets in their own name, such as monetary gifts they’ve received, stocks and bonds, or money from legal settlements such as injury or medical malpractice cases, those resources can go into a first-party trust.
- A Pooled Trust: In this case, you contribute money to a non-profit organization that pools your money with others’ and manages the account that your child will use for important expenses.
A New York special needs planning attorney can help you determine which type of special needs trust is right for your and set it up.
Information Resources for Orange County Families on Special Needs Planning
The Cuddy Law Firm special needs planning lawyers work to educate and inform parents about their rights, options and opportunities in providing for a child who will need life-long support.
Special needs planning is its own area of law with its own concepts and language.
It can be confusing, but we aim to make it understandable, so you can make the best decisions for you child, yourself and your family.
To learn more about special needs planning, see some of our articles and videos from our lawyers:
- Special Needs Planning Basics
- Guardianships
- Special Needs Life Planning (Including Your Own End-of-Life Plans
- Making the Transition from Special Education After High School
- Applying for Developmental Disability Programs in New York
- Protecting Your Child’s Access to Public Benefits
For a guide to this process in Orange County, Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, throughout the Mid-Hudson Region, and all of New York, you can go to the Cuddy Law Firm.
Now is always a good time to make your plan. Let us help you get going.