Any situation involving a special needs individual requires a compassionate and trusted approach to ensure they receive the care and support they need. Our team steps into the role of special needs counsel to work with individuals and their families on creating the best plan possible for their needs.

Tarter Krinsky & Drogin’s Special Needs Practice counsels those whose lives are affected by a disability, mental illness, or substance abuse – either personally or a child, family member, or friend. We represent clients from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds and work diligently and compassionately to guide them through related trusts and estates planning.

We pride ourselves in our ability to provide holistic special needs-related legal services that take into account our clients’ goals and values. Our practice has a particular focus on preserving an individual’s eligibility for government benefits, such as Medicaid and Social Security Income (SSI) by guiding families in creating special needs trust, also known as supplemental needs trusts. These trusts allow individuals who are disabled and receiving government benefits to maintain necessary benefits, while the assets in the trust can be used to supplement the disabled individual’s life with items such as education, travel, recreational activities, and medical expenses not covered by Medicaid.

We also counsel those individuals and institutions who have been entrusted to act as the agent or guardian of an individual with a disability or mental illness, or as the trustee of a trust with a special needs beneficiary in complying with their fiduciary duties. This may include petitioning the court for an appointment of either an Article 81 or Article 17-a guardian, or guiding the disabled individual and family in supported decision-making options. Our goal is always to ensure that the least restrictive plan respecting the disabled individual’s rights is effectuated, while ensuring that their parents or any other family or friends who serve as their support network have the legal ability to assist, as needed. Serving as a fiduciary for a disabled individual requires navigating many complex legal and administrative systems and we work with the appointed fiduciary in giving hands-on advice over the many years they may serve in this role, and through the transitions of the disabled individual as their needs may change.

Often, our role as special needs counsel includes working with the entire family on preparing a holistic plan that encompasses multi-generational planning and incorporates sophisticated estate tax planning, when necessary, within the broader context of the family’s estate planning. 

Representative Matters

• Representing a spouse for the appointment of her as Article 81 guardian after her husband suffered a traumatic brain injury from a bicycle accident. We’re guiding her through the guardianship process and Medicaid eligibility to pay for his long-term care, while preserving needed assets for his disabled adult daughter and other minor children.
• Guiding a family in structuring their estate planning whose child has a mental illness, including setting up a supplemental needs trust and advance directives tailored for the adult child to allow decision making on their behalf, if needed during a period of crisis. 
• Assisting a father to be appointed as guardian for his twenty-year old daughter who was hit by a truck, setting up a first party supplemental needs trust to protect her settlement award and ensure on eligibility for Medicaid to pay for her extensive care.
• Counseling a mother of a developmentally disabled child through her appointment as his guardian under Article 17-A. We’re advising on decanting an irrevocable trust created by grandparent to ensure future government benefit eligibility.