Most families that have a special needs (i.e., disabled) son or daughter collect a wealth of information about the special needs of that child, including information regarding medical care, educational issues, names of doctors, consultants, care-givers, special activities, and a host of other important bits of information that are critical to the ongoing care of their child.
However, experience with our clients has shown that, in spite of the parent’s good intentions, much of that information is held and remains “between the ears” of the parent rather than in one conveniently organized and well-documented format that would be readily available and transferrable to a successor guardian, caregiver, or Trustee for the disabled child in the event of the loss of life or disability of the parent.
We think it critically important that families with special needs children build a “Lifecare Transition Notebook” to contain such relevant and critically important information in a clear and well organized manner. Such a notebook will be of priceless value to another family member or friend who takes on some responsibility for caring or overseeing care for the special needs child after the parent can no longer do so.
In addition, providing a copy of the “Lifecare Transition Notebook” to the professional Trustee who may eventually assume responsibility for managing the Special Needs Trust will help the Trustee have additional and critical information to assist the Trustee in making critical investment or disbursement decisions involving the Trust.
We at Barber & Bartz can provide such a personalized “Lifecare Transition Notebook” to our clients, if requested, as part of the estate and special needs planning services that we provide.
