Today Congress passed one of NAELA’s top legislative priorities: provisions that protect children with disabilities of members of the military by allowing their parents’ survivor benefits to go into a special needs trust.
The provisions were passed as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2015 and are substantively equivalent to the Disabled Military Child Protection Act sponsored by Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) and Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA).
Until these provisions become law, the military parents’ survivor benefits of children with disabilities must go directly to the children, which means they could lose public assistance for their long-term supports and services.
NAELA anticipates the President’s signature shortly.
All the elder law attorneys of Oalican Law Group are members of NAELA. We have written several articles on the benefits of Special Needs Trusts in our blog. If you have a loved one who is disabled, we invite you to speak to one of our asset protection attorneys about the appropriateness of including a Special Needs Trust as part of your estate and asset protection plan.
Sincerely,
Eric R. Oalican