Providing Life Insurance for Special Needs Children
November 6th, 2008
Image by Joe Cheng from Boston, MA
The last thing you want to have to think about when you’re deciding on your life insurance planning and who will benefit after you’re gone, is whether or not your children with special needs will be taken care of properly. Because of their special needs they will have specific financial needs, including medical treatments for possibly their entire adult lives. Children with special needs are still entitled to a good quality of life and the life insurance plan you choose to take care of them should reflect this as well.
You want to have a plan in place that will ensure that not only the financial aspects of their lives will be maintained, but also their physical and social ones as well. It’s very important that the life insurance plan – and benefits – you have in place, outlives your children. In this way, they will not be wanting for financial help throughout their entire adult lives.
Using Estate Planning and Trustees to Ensure Your Child’s Future
Through the use of special trustee plans and other legal methods, your life insurance plan can be set up so that your children with disabilities or other special needs can be well taken care of long after you’re gone. This is done in a variety of ways including talking matters over with a special needs planning group which you can contact through your local mental health departments, or directly with your life insurance broker. In this way you can begin to lay out a plan to ensure that your special needs children are going to be cared for when you are no longer around to do it. By having a trustee appointed to ensure that your last wishes are followed and with a sound financial plan in place, your children should be taken care of for as long as they need to be.
By working closely with your life insurance company, you can set up a special needs plan that will take into account all the aspects of the special care that your child may need in the coming years. Some things to keep in mind when setting up this type of plan can include:
- Proceeds from your insurance plan are generally not subject to probate fees and are usually available almost immediately after the parents’ death
- You need to make sure that the plan takes into account a full lifetime of support for your child including special medical needs that may arise
- The amount of financial benefits in your plan must outlive your child to ensure the quality of life is maintained for their entire adult life
Tags: estate planning, handicapped children, Life Insurance, life insurance for children, special needs, trustees
