Special Needs Trust: Recent Developments and Case Studies
SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST:
Recent Developments and Case Studies
When an individual with a disability receives benefits (or should receive benefits) from government-funded programs, those benefits often prove to be an essential lifeline. Especially important in many cases: medical care provided by Medicaid and/or Medicare. But how can a public benefits recipient receive an inheritance, a lawsuit settlement award, or any other asset and retain eligibility for that lifeline?
Evelyn Kleinhans, CPA, and Robert Fleming, CELA, will review the principal public benefits programs and identify those which require financial evaluations. They will discuss methods of retaining eligibility and how to plan for that inheritance or other resource. They will explain the treatment of special needs trusts for income tax and other taxation purposes, and review a few case studies to help explain the entire complex and developing field.
SPEAKERS
Robert B. Fleming is a partner in the Tucson law firm of Fleming & Curti, P.L.C., with a practice limited to trust (and special needs trust) administration, guardianship, conservatorship, estate planning, and probate. Mr. Fleming is a co-author (with Lisa Davis) of The Elder Law Answer Book, and (with Prof. Kenney Hegland) of New Times, New Challenges: Law and Advice for Savvy Seniors and Their Families. Mr. Fleming has been selected as a Fellow of both the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. He is a past Chair of both the Mental Health and Elder Law and the Probate and Trust Sections of the State Bar of Arizona, and a past President of the National Elder Law Foundation. Mr. Fleming is certified as an Estate and Trust specialist by the State Bar of Arizona, and as a Certified Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation. At different times he was President of the Pima County Bar Association and the Young Lawyers Section of the State Bar of Arizona (he no longer qualifies to be a member). Mr. Fleming is a founding member of the Special Needs Alliance (www.specialneedsalliance.com). Perhaps more importantly, he is a husband, father, grandfather, scuba diver, pilot and martial arts practitioner.
Evelyn A. Kleinhans is a member of Camp Lowell CPAs, P.L.L.C. She holds Bachelor and Masters degrees in Accounting, both from the University of Arizona. She has practiced public accounting since 1979, with a primary focus on the taxation of trusts, estates, partnerships, limited liability companies and individuals, with an emphasis on planning for complex real estate transactions. She has been published in Taxation for Accountants and Taxation for Lawyers, and has instructed graduate tax courses at the University of Arizona. Evelyn's professional affiliations include the Southern Arizona Estate Planning Council, the Tucson Tax Study Group, the Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
