“When parents come into my office, they are extremely nervous about the future,” said Wrubel. “Will my child have a roof over their head, will they have friends, who will be there to replace the feeding tube? The concerns never go away.”
Wrubel often advises parents to set up a special needs trust to provide for children after parents die, and he is starting to suggest ABLE accounts too that can give disabled adults control over some money.
With ABLE Accounts so new, only about 15,000 have been opened and the average contains less than $3,400, said Rodriguez. Yet, he estimates about 7 million people may be eligible to have an account.
The ABLE National Resource Center provides a tool (http://ablenrc.org/state_compare/) to search states and compare plans. Although all states have 529 plans, not all offer ABLE Accounts and those that do differ on fees, investment choices and state tax rules. Yet, if your state does not offer the accounts you can use another state’s.
Still, be aware, notes attorney James Canup, of Richmond, Virginia, that if there is money left in an ABLE account after a disabled person dies, governments can take it to cover some of the individual’s Medicaid costs.
“Some states do not claw back the funds, but the federal government says they can,” said Canup.
This article was provided by Reuters.