If important government benefits are being utilized now or will be in the future, special needs planning is crucial to keep those benefits. Even if your special needs child or loved one does not expect to need public benefits, many private programs for individuals with disabilities mandate the same qualification rules as public benefits programs, necessitating special needs planning.

DISABILITY PLANNING

If there was ever a time to have a plan, now is that time...

There used to be a time when we lived and then we…. died. It was pretty simple and well understood. Today, with the tremendous strides in medical research and with the burgeoning of bioethics, our physical lives are being extended. From joint to stem cell replacement, organ transplants, etc., our physical lives are being extended well beyond what we would have ever considered. Today’s 50, 60, 70, 80 and 90-year-olds look much different than they did in generations past, which brought on the advent of the phrases, “the new 40”, “the new 50”, etc. However, our mental lives have not kept pace and the scientific community has struggled to introduce sustainable medicines that will extend our cognitive functioning, slow the progressions of Alzheimer’s and related dementias without the offsetting and deleterious side-effects. What this grey nebulous area of incapacity will look like for each of us is unknown which is why we each need a plan in place to deal with what may come.

More and more of us will experience some degree of cognitive decline as we age, making it increasingly difficult to manage our financial and health care matters. Having valid and effective powers of attorney for finances and for health care decision-making is what stands between you and a guardianship proceeding.

These documents are less restrictive alternatives to guardianship and save a lot of time, expense, conflict and distress when or if you should ever be incapacitated mentally and unable to make decisions for yourself.