Bay
Financial Newsletter
Families
with Special Needs Children: Questions to Answer
Please
feel free to share this with an organization, a family member, friend,
or someone you think will find it useful.
When
planning for special needs children, saving taxes (usually a primary
focus of planning efforts), becomes secondary to other considerations.
This commentary focuses on the economic problems faced by those who
support physically, mentally, and emotionally disabled persons.
Unfortunately,
services for special needs children, though more extensive than ever,
have become more expensive. Parents of special needs individuals must
consider and confront both people – and asset-oriented issues. These
issues are like mathematical interdependent variables – each issue
or problem must be considered in relation to the others. The variables
are often complex, uncertain and, at times, highly emotionally charged
– particularly when the special needs person is a child and even more
so when there are other children in the family. The true extent of
impairment may not presently be evident, medical procedures may be
in a state of flux, or treatment may have to be delayed until the
child is older or better able to undergo the treatment. A child's
ability to cope and adjust may not yet be fully evident.
Clearly,
special needs persons (particularly children who are adopted) have
much greater than normal medical and continuing care costs. Those
expenses include special equipment for children with medical conditions,
modifications to homes to accommodate their particular or special
medical conditions or large sibling groups, medical bills, and/or
therapy bills for the emotionally troubled. Even otherwise simple
tasks such as obtaining a baby sitter take on difficult and expensive
overtones, and specially trained caregivers or respite homes are sometimes
needed to make it possible for the parents of such children to go
to a movie or take a short trip.
Your
answers to the following questions will be of great aid to your advisors
and your child’s caretakers:
(1) To what
degree can (or will) ___________ fend for himself (herself)? (What
are the nature, extent, and prognosis of the disability (or disabilities)?)
(2) When you
die, retire, or if you become disabled or suffer a financial setback,
who can (and will) continue to assure adequate care, services and
other needs for _________? Most banks and trust companies are not
capable or willing to make these highly necessary but personal decisions.)
(3) What plans
have you made for multiple “back-ups” so someone you have selected
can step in and make decisions and/or assure services if the primary
person you named dies, becomes disabled, moves, has a financial
reversal, or, for any other reason, cannot or will not serve?
(4) What back-up
plans do you have if there is no family member or friend willing
and able to assume these responsibilities?
To the extent
possible, you must translate needs into dollar amounts.
Here are some
additional questions that will be helpful to advisors and caregivers:
(1) Does _________
now (or will ________ eventually) need residential care and, if
so, what do you expect the annual cost will be?
(2) What are
you now paying for _________’s support?
(3) What are
you now paying for _________’s habilitation – or rehabilitation?
(4) What are
you now paying for _________’s medical care?
(5) What are
you now paying for _________’s room and board?
(6) Where will
________ live if you are no longer here? Can __________ live alone?
With a friend or relative? In a group home? What costs would you
estimate in each case?
(7) Is ________
able to work? To what extent? Is that likely to continue? What are
________’s earnings? Can _______ handle routine affairs? Small amounts
of income each week? Large sums of money? (Discuss ________’s financial
maturity and capability at length.)
There are, of
course, many other questions that need to be asked and answered –
and many tools and techniques that can be used to help solve these
problems.
PLEASE
FEEL FREE TO CALL TO DISCUSS THESE OR OTHER ISSUES OF IMPORTANCE TO
YOU.
