Protect What Matters

Special Needs Trust Attorney in Augusta, KS

Caring for a child or family member with a disability comes with one overwhelming question: what happens to them when you are no longer here to provide? While your natural instinct is to leave behind financial support, a direct inheritance or uncoordinated gift can accidentally disqualify your loved one from the very government benefits they depend on for care and housing, such as SSI and KanCare. Families in Augusta work with Advanced Legal Planning to create custom special needs trusts that preserve critical assistance while providing resources for lifelong comfort and care. Establishing the right plan today protects your loved one's future and gives your family lasting peace of mind.

Provide for Your Loved One Without Risking Their Benefits

If you care for a child or family member with a disability, one worry sits heavier than the rest. What happens to them when you are no longer here to provide? The instinct is to leave them money. The danger is that money left the wrong way can disqualify them from the very benefits that pay for their care and housing. For families in Augusta, a special needs trust solves that problem. Advanced Legal Planning helps Augusta families provide for their loved ones while preserving the benefits they depend on.

Special needs trust attorney helping an Augusta Kansas parent plan for a child with disabilities

The Mistakes Augusta Families Make Most

Loving intentions can cause real harm when the planning is wrong. The most common mistakes we see are leaving money or property directly to a person with a disability, which can end their eligibility for needs based benefits, having relatives name the individual as a beneficiary on a life insurance policy or retirement account without coordinating it through a trust, assuming a basic will can safely provide for a child with special needs, and delaying planning until a parent's own health declines. Each of these can unravel benefits that took years to secure.

Guidance Built on Rare Depth of Experience

Special needs planning must balance benefit eligibility, trust law, and tax, and mistakes carry lifelong consequences for a vulnerable person. Advanced Legal Planning, LLC is led by Mark Galloway, owner of the firm, who holds dual LL.M. degrees, one in Elder Law from the University of Kansas and one in Tax from Boston University. That depth, rare among Kansas firms, means Augusta families get a special needs trust built to protect both benefits and assets over a lifetime.

Our Planning Blueprint

We make special needs planning approachable, in three clear steps.

Step one is your planning session. We meet for about an hour to understand your loved one's needs, the benefits they receive or may need, and your goals for their future.

Step two is designing the trust. We build a special needs trust structured to hold assets for your loved one's benefit without counting against needs based programs, and we coordinate it with the rest of your estate plan.

Step three is putting it in place and guiding the family. We make sure the trust is executed correctly, help relatives direct gifts into the trust rather than to the individual, and explain how the trustee should manage distributions to protect eligibility.

How Families Plan for Long Term Support

Providing for a loved one with a disability means thinking in decades, and needs based benefits are usually the foundation. Programs like Medicaid, known in Kansas as KanCare, and Supplemental Security Income carry strict asset limits, which is why assets intended to help must be held in a properly structured special needs trust rather than given directly. A special needs trust can pay for extras and quality of life items that benefits do not cover, from therapies to recreation to a better standard of living, all while preserving eligibility. Families often coordinate life insurance, retirement accounts, and gifts from grandparents so that everything flows into the trust, protecting the benefits underneath.

What Augusta Families Say

“We had no idea that leaving money to our son could actually cost him his benefits. Advanced Legal Planning set up a special needs trust that lets us provide for him without putting his care at risk. For the first time, we feel like his future is secure no matter what happens to us.”

— Client testimonial, Augusta area

Protect Your Loved One's Future Today

You do not have to choose between providing for your loved one and protecting their benefits. Advanced Legal Planning helps Augusta families do both, with a plan built to last a lifetime. Call Advanced Legal Planning at (316) 252-2233 or schedule a consultation online. Virtual meetings are available upon request.

Schedule a Consultation

Frequently Asked Questions

Will leaving an inheritance disqualify my child from benefits?

It can, if the inheritance goes to them directly. A special needs trust holds assets for their benefit without counting against needs based programs.

What can a special needs trust pay for?

It can cover extras and quality of life items that benefits do not, while preserving eligibility. Learn more on our Trusts page.

Can grandparents contribute to the trust?

Yes, and coordinating those gifts through the trust is important so a well meaning gift does not cause harm.

How do I get started?

Call (316) 252-2233 or visit advancedlegalplanning.com/contact.

Serving Augusta and Surrounding Kansas Communities

Advanced Legal Planning proudly serves Augusta and the surrounding Kansas communities, including Wichita, Andover, El Dorado, and the greater Butler and Sedgwick County areas, from our offices in Derby and Wichita. Wherever you live, our mission is the same: to help you protect your loved ones, your savings, and your legacy.