Special Needs Trust Attorney

Home

If You Leave Money Directly to a Child on Medicaid or SSI, It Can End Their Benefits

That’s not hypothetical. An inheritance received outright—even a modest one—can push a person with a disability over the asset limit for Supplemental Security Income or Medicaid. In Kansas, that limit is $2,000 in countable assets. A check for $3,000 can trigger a loss of coverage.

A special needs trust holds assets for the benefit of your loved one without those assets counting against them. It’s a specific legal structure with specific rules, and it needs to be set up correctly to work. Lisa Ward helps families in Wamego, Westmoreland, and across Pottawatomie County get it done right.

What A Special Needs Trust Does

The trust owns the assets. Your loved one benefits from them. Because they don’t own the assets themselves, those funds don’t count toward Medicaid or SSI eligibility.

What the trust can pay for depends on the type of benefits involved, but generally it covers things those programs don’t—transportation, recreation, personal care items, education, electronics, travel. A special needs trust attorney will structure the trust and help the trustee understand what distributions are safe so benefits stay intact.

Under Kansas law, these trusts are governed by the Kansas Uniform Trust Code, K.S.A. Chapter 58a. Federal eligibility rules for SSI and Medicaid layer on top of that. Both matter, and a mistake in either direction can be costly.

Two Types of Special Needs Trusts

Third-party special needs trusts

Third-party special needs trusts are funded by a parent, grandparent, or other family member—not by the person with the disability. These are the most common for estate planning purposes. When the beneficiary passes, remaining funds can go to other heirs. There’s no Medicaid payback requirement.

First-party special needs trusts

First-party special needs trusts are funded with assets belonging to the person with the disability—a personal injury settlement, a direct inheritance they already received, or savings they’ve accumulated. Federal law requires these trusts to include a Medicaid payback provision, meaning Medicaid may recover costs from whatever is left in the trust after death.

Picking the Right Trustee

Someone has to manage the trust after you’re gone. They handle distributions, keep records, and make sure payments don’t accidentally affect your loved one’s benefits. That’s not a small job.

Families often choose a trusted family member. Some hire a professional or corporate trustee, especially when no one in the family has the time or the financial background to take it on. Pooled trusts—run by nonprofit organizations—are another option worth knowing about.

Our leading attorney, Lisa Ward, talks through this with you before any paperwork gets started. The trust document can be thorough, but it still needs a real person behind it who understands what they’re doing.

Who Needs a Special Needs Trust?

A lot of different families end up needing a special needs trust attorney. Parents planning for an adult child with developmental disabilities. Grandparents who want to leave something behind without disrupting benefits. Siblings coordinating an estate after parents have passed and realizing a direct inheritance would cause problems. Families who just received a personal injury settlement on behalf of a child with disabilities and need somewhere for that money to go.

In Pottawatomie County, farm families face this too—when land or livestock is part of the estate, figuring out how to pass that on without triggering a benefits disruption takes some careful thought. Lisa is used to working through those situations.

About Our Founding Attorney, Lisa Ward

Lisa Ward is a Wamego-based estate planning attorney with over 30 years of Kansas legal experience. She understands the Kansas statutes, she knows this community, and she doesn’t hand you a form and send you on your way. Every client leaves with a plan that fits their actual situation.

If you’re not sure whether a special needs trust is the right tool—or whether your current plan has a gap in it—that’s exactly the kind of conversation worth having with a special needs trust attorney before something forces the issue.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the downside of a special needs trust?

The main limitation is that the trust has to be managed carefully. Certain distributions—cash for food or shelter—can count as income and reduce SSI payments. The trustee needs to understand what’s allowed. That’s part of why working with a special needs trust attorney upfront, rather than just downloading a template, matters.

What kind of lawyer do you need for a special needs trust?

An estate planning attorney who specifically understands how trust law intersects with Medicaid and SSI eligibility rules. These programs have their own asset and income counting rules, and a general practice attorney without that background can miss things that end up mattering later.

How does this fit with the rest of my estate plan?

A special needs trust is usually part of a broader estate plan—coordinated with your will, any other trusts you have, and beneficiary designations on accounts and life insurance. All of it needs to point the same direction. Lisa reviews the full picture, not just the trust in isolation.

What Our Clients Say

Get Started With Your Trust Today

Most families don’t set up a special needs trust because they don’t get around to it—not because they don’t care. But if your estate passes without one in place, the options narrow fast. A direct inheritance can disqualify your loved one from benefits they depend on. Fixing it after the fact—through a court-established trust or a spend-down—is harder, slower, and more expensive than planning ahead.

If you’ve been putting this off, the time to talk to a special needs trust attorney is now, while you still control how this gets set up. Lisa Ward’s office is at 2201 Columbian Rd. in Wamego. Call (785) 775-7526 or reach out online to schedule a time to talk.