Everything you need to protect your child’s benefits — calculators, checklists, guides, and tools. All free, all based on my 15+ years of experience.
🧮 Interactive Tools
ABLE vs SNT Calculator
Answer 4 questions to get a personalized recommendation on whether you need an ABLE account, Special Needs Trust, or both.
🧮 Do You Need a Special Needs Trust, ABLE Account, or Both?
Answer a few quick questions for a recommendation based on your situation.
📋 Planning Readiness Checklist
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📚 Essential Guides
ABLE vs SNT: Complete Guide
Understand when to use each, how they work together, and the mistakes to avoid.
State-by-State Rules
Find specific rules, ABLE programs, and attorney recommendations for your state.
Find an Attorney
Get connected with verified special needs planning attorneys in your state.
Comprehensive Planning Guides
In-depth guides covering every aspect of special needs planning. Written by a parent, updated for 2026.
- Special Needs Trusts: The Complete Guide — Trust types, setup, costs, trustee selection, and common mistakes
- ABLE Accounts Explained — Eligibility, 2026 limits, qualified expenses, and state programs
- Government Benefits: SSI, SSDI & Medicaid — How benefits work, coordination with trusts, and work incentives
- Funding Strategies — Life insurance, gifts, settlements, retirement accounts
- Letter of Intent — Section-by-section guide to the most important document most families skip
- Life Planning: Guardianship, Housing & Transition — Guardianship options, housing, the age 18 cliff
- Parent Journeys — Real questions and experiences from families like yours
📖 Key Terms Glossary
First-Party SNT (d4A Trust): Funded with the disabled person’s own money (inheritance, lawsuit). Requires Medicaid payback at death.
Third-Party SNT: Funded with someone else’s money (parents, grandparents). NO Medicaid payback — funds can go to other family members.
Pooled Trust (d4C): Managed by a nonprofit. Good for smaller amounts or when no family trustee is available.
ABLE Account: Tax-advantaged savings account for disability expenses. $19,000/year limit. Money in ABLE doesn’t count for SSI (up to $100K).
Sole Benefit Rule: Some states require that every SNT dollar benefit ONLY the disabled person — no family trips, no gifts to others.
Medicaid Payback: When a first-party SNT ends, Medicaid can claim reimbursement for care they provided. Third-party SNTs avoid this.
🔗 External Resources
- Social Security Administration – SSI Program
- Medicaid.gov – Official Information
- ABLE National Resource Center
- Special Needs Alliance – Find an Attorney
- Family Estate Guide — Essential Estate Documents — Wills, powers of attorney, healthcare directives, and how they work alongside a special needs trust
- Family Estate Guide — Living Trusts Explained — How living trusts work, setup and funding basics, and avoiding probate
Resources updated February 2026.