Is your child 12 going on 13?

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	For those parents whose children are turning 13, there is something important you need to do.  If your child has ANY money or ANY assets in his name, remove them now.  Either hide them in your own account or put them in a trust.  The day your child turns 18, he will qualify for adults disability services if he has no assets (or few).  These services are VERY valuable and I know of many Asperger's kids who get them.  Your child cannot apply before his 18th birthday but any assets cannot have been in his possession for 5 years, so now is the time to get them out.  Write a will or set up a trust using a geriatric lawyer who has experience in disabilities law. Thanks for the tip.  DH and I are planning on doing a will in the next few months.  Already done.  The only asset he had was a 529 college account.  I transferred all the money into my daughter's 529, because I can still use that money for Connor if I need to, though the California State Department of Rehabilitation will pay for his college if he goes to school in California. What if the assets are in a child's and a parents name?  My kids all have a college fund set up by my father.  I know their names and SS #'s are on them, but I believe either myself or my parents are on the account as well.   Nope.  That will be count toward your child.  I believe there is a small amount of money you child can have (I think it's $2,000), but anything over that has to be spent down first.  Your child cannot have ANYTHING in his name that is not in a trust.  Where this becomes a nightmare is if you die before you can set up a trust (even if your child is VERY young) and he doesn't spend all the money by age 18.  Anything that is STILL in his name at 18 prevents him from getting adult services.  That is why, if any of us think our kids MIGHT need that help at age 18, it's imperative to fashion a will that puts the disabled child's portion in a trust NOW. The DEADLINE is by age 13, but all kids COULD inherit if there is a tragedy and then ALL that money has to be fully spent (or down to the minimum allowable) before a single dime is spent by the government for services.  Also, if a child over the age of 18 suddenly comes into money in his own name, he has to PAY BACK the government for every penny spent by the gov't up until that time, so the GRANDPARENTS need to leave anything they plan to leave him to his trust instead of to him.  See a geriatric lawyer with a lot of disabilities experience.  tzoya39091.5568055556Joan, we have placed all of our assets in a family trust, so we're good, right?I think so.   I am going to make an appointment to see a geriatric lawyer to put our houses in trust so that in case WE need to go to a nursing home, those houses won't go to pay for the nursing home instead of to our son's trust.  If you have any doubt, make another appointment with a geriatric/disabilities lawyer.  I am.We put our house in our family trust about 2 1/2 years ago.  Our checking and savings are in the family trust as well, though I still have a few stock accounts that I need to transfer to the trust.  Our children are joint beneficiaries of the trust, but the assets would stay in the trusts name, with our executor overseeing the assets.  My BIL is our executor (whose daughter is an Aspie).  I'll talk to my accountant next month, but I'm pretty sure that other than the stock accounts I still need to transfer, this is the correct way to avoid probate, while not specifically leaving the assets in any one child's name. Tzoya, thanks for starting this topic.  We haven't discussed any financial planning in regards to our son.  He is 12 and sounds like we need to get on it.  Thanks again for the info! BUMP   LET ME JUST ADD IF ANYONE LEAVES ANY MONEY OR VALUABLES TO YOUR CHILD AND IT IS 2,000 OR MORE THE BENEFITS WILL DISAPPEAR.SO WATCH OUT..HIDE THE ASSESSTS
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