Estate Planning · DuPage County, Illinois
Wills, trusts, and the planning that keeps your family in control and out of court, from the same DuPage County firm since 1990.
A special needs trust lets you provide for a loved one with a disability without costing them the government benefits they depend on. Programs like SSI and Medicaid have strict asset limits, so a well-meant gift or inheritance left directly to a person with disabilities can disqualify them from the very benefits that pay for their care and housing. A properly drafted special needs trust holds those funds for their benefit while keeping them eligible. It is one of the most important — and most easily mishandled — tools in planning for a family member with special needs.
We create special needs trusts for families across DuPage County and the western suburbs, both first-party trusts funded with the individual’s own assets and third-party trusts funded by parents and relatives. You work directly with the attorney designing the trust, we coordinate it with your broader estate plan and any guardianship arrangements, and we make sure it is structured to protect both the funds and the benefits. The goal is lifelong security for your loved one.
Every situation is different. We design the right combination for yours.
We know the Illinois rules in this niche, not just generic estate planning principles.
Specialized strategies must coordinate with your wills, trusts, and POAs. We design them together.
We model the actual tax and benefit impact of strategies before you commit.
Tax law and rules change. We update strategies as needed over time.
Specialized work but predictable pricing, quoted at consultation, not hourly billed.
Chris or John handles this work personally. No handoffs to paralegals.
Parents naturally want to leave something to a child with a disability, and the most common instinct — leaving them money directly in a will, or having relatives name them as a beneficiary — can do real harm. Means-tested benefits like SSI and Medicaid cut off once a person’s countable assets cross a low threshold, often just a few thousand dollars. An inheritance or a generous gift from a grandparent can push them over that line, suspend their benefits, and force the money to be spent down before eligibility returns. The gift meant to help ends up disrupting the support system the family built.
A special needs trust solves this. Instead of the assets being owned by your loved one, they are held in trust and used to enrich their life — therapies, equipment, travel, education, and comforts that public benefits do not cover — without counting against eligibility. The key is getting the structure and the language right, and making sure every relative who might leave a gift directs it to the trust rather than to the individual. We coordinate that across the whole family so a well-intentioned bequest from anyone does not undo the plan.
From our Villa Park office, we represent clients across DuPage County and the western suburbs of Chicago.
Third-party SNTs are funded by someone other than the beneficiary (parents, grandparents), no Medicaid payback at the beneficiary’s death. First-party SNTs hold the beneficiary’s own assets (settlements, inheritance), must include Medicaid payback at death.
A regular discretionary trust may still count as an available resource for SSI/Medicaid purposes. SNTs include specific language designed to prevent benefit disqualification.
Distributions for shelter and food can reduce SSI benefits dollar-for-dollar (up to a cap). The trust can pay for almost everything else, therapy, recreation, transportation, education, vacations, personal care, without affecting benefits.
Family trustees know the beneficiary and care more, but may lack expertise in benefits rules. Professional trustees have expertise but cost money. Many SNTs use both, a corporate trustee with a family trust protector.
Often yes. The SNT holds and distributes assets. Guardianship gives someone authority to make personal, medical, or financial decisions. They serve different purposes.
It can, and that is exactly the problem a special needs trust is built to prevent. Benefits like SSI and Medicaid are means-tested, with very low asset limits. An inheritance, a lawsuit settlement, or even a gift left directly to your child can push them over those limits and suspend benefits until the money is spent down. Directing those assets into a properly drafted special needs trust instead keeps your child eligible while still providing for their needs.
A third-party special needs trust is funded with someone else’s money — typically parents or grandparents planning ahead — and has the most flexibility, including no Medicaid payback requirement at the beneficiary’s death. A first-party trust is funded with the disabled person’s own assets, such as a settlement or a direct inheritance, and Illinois requires a Medicaid payback provision. Which one you need depends on whose money is funding it, and we help you use the right structure for the situation.
A free consultation tells you whether this strategy fits your situation, and what the realistic impact would be.