Boca Raton Special Needs Planning Attorney

Special needs planning for Palm Beach County families, built to hold up long after you are gone

Across Palm Beach County, many parents carry the same quiet worry. Not who cares for their disabled child today, but who will after they are gone, and whether one inheritance could end the benefits that child depends on. Money left straight to a disabled relative who receives SSI can stop the monthly check within weeks.

The tool that solves it is a special needs trust. Assets held in a properly drafted trust are not counted against Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), so a Palm Beach family member can receive a gift, inheritance, or settlement and keep their benefits. Whether it works depends on whose money funds it and how carefully the trustee spends it. The pressure behind all of it is the $2,000 resource limit under those benefits, a cap unchanged since 1989 that a single inheritance can blow past.

• Money you set aside for your child goes into a third-party trust, which never repays Medicaid and can leave what is left to your other heirs.
• Money that is already your child's, such as a settlement, goes into a first-party trust, which reimburses the state at death under 42 U.S.C. section 1396p(d)(4)(A).

That is the short version. Our statewide guide to special needs planning in Florida covers each option in full, and this page is about how families near Boca Raton put it in place.

Key takeaways

• A special needs trust lets a Palm Beach family member keep Medicaid and SSI while still benefiting from a gift, inheritance, or settlement.
• For aging parents, the real work is the succession plan, naming a trustee and writing a letter of intent so your child is cared for after you cannot do it yourself.
• Elder Needs Law keeps a by-appointment Boca Raton office on Glades Road and serves southern Palm Beach County, with a free first consultation.
• Whose money funds the trust sets the type. A parent's money means no Medicaid payback. The beneficiary's own money means payback at death.
• An ABLE account can sit beside the trust for day-to-day money. Since January 1, 2026 it is open to anyone disabled before age 46, shelters up to $100,000, and accepts up to $19,000 a year.

The basics, in brief

There is more to this than one page should carry, and the full walk-through sits on the statewide page. The core idea is short. When you fund the trust with your own money it is a third-party trust and owes Medicaid nothing, and when the trust holds your child's own money it is a first-party trust that pays the state back at death. Both are recognized under Florida Statutes section 736.04117.

If you want to see how the trust actually runs, how a special needs trust is drafted and administered covers the distribution rules and the judgment a trustee uses month to month.

For smaller purchases an ABLE account often works beside the trust, and how an ABLE account and a special needs trust work together shows which spending belongs in each.

First-party or third-party trusts

For parents planning ahead, the third-party trust is usually the one that matters, but it helps to see how it differs from a first-party trust first. This short vide

To put it plainly, a first-party special needs trust is for money that already belongs to your child and pays the state back at the end, while the third-party trust you fund yourself never does. For a family planning for a child's future, the third-party trust is where the plan lives.

Planning for the day you are not there

Many Boca families are not worried about this month. They are planning for the decades after they are gone, when someone else has to manage the money and the care. That is where the third-party trust and a careful choice of trustee matter most. Built into your special needs estate planning, the trust can be funded through your estate or a life insurance policy and paired with a trustee who will still be there when you are not, whether a trusted relative, a professional, or both.

A letter of intent rides alongside the trust. It is not a legal document, but it tells the trustee how your loved one lives, their routines, their doctors, their likes and fears, so the person who steps in can carry on the care the way you would.

How this plays out for a Boca family

Consider a retired couple in Boca Raton. Their adult son has an intellectual disability, receives Medicaid and SSI, and has always lived with them. Their real worry is not today. It is who provides for him after they are gone. They set up a third-party special needs trust, fund it through their estate and a life insurance policy, and name a professional trustee to take over when they no longer can. They also write a letter of intent describing his routines, his doctors, and how he likes to live. When the parents pass away, nothing falls apart. The trust pays for his care, the trustee follows their wishes, and his benefits never lapse.

Special needs planning in Palm Beach County

The Boca Raton office

The Boca Raton office sits by appointment on Glades Road, near the Town Center and easy to reach from I-95, so families in Boca, Delray Beach, and Boynton Beach can meet a board-certified elder law attorney close to home. Most matters are handled by video and phone as well, whichever suits you. Hablamos Espanol.

The communities we serve

From Boca Raton we work with families across southern Palm Beach County, including Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Highland Beach, and the communities west of town, and we reach south to Deerfield Beach at the county line. Snowbird families who split the year between Florida and the Northeast are common here, and we plan around calendars that move.

Palm Beach County's offices and courts

The benefit rules are federal, but Palm Beach families deal with county offices. Medicaid eligibility runs through the state's Department of Children and Families, and disability services flow through the Agency for Persons with Disabilities, whose Southeast Region office in West Palm Beach covers Palm Beach County. We handle Florida Medicaid eligibility so the trust and the application stay in step.

When a disabled adult needs someone with legal authority after turning 18, that case is heard in the Palm Beach County probate court, part of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. Depending on the level of support, that can mean guardianship, or a lighter durable power of attorney and health care surrogate that leaves them more independence.

Getting paid to care for a family member

In many Boca families a relative is the caregiver and should be paid as one. A personal service contract, sometimes called a family caregiver agreement, puts that arrangement in writing, and when it is done right it reads as a legitimate expense rather than a gift under Medicaid's rules. That is how a family can get paid for caring for a disabled family member, so long as the contract is signed before the care starts, set at a fair-market rate, and reported as income. The margin for error is small, so a lawyer should draft it.

Frequently asked questions

Q. Where is your Boca Raton office, and do I have to come in?

A. The Boca office is by appointment on Glades Road, near the Town Center, and most Palm Beach families handle everything by video and phone. Hablamos Espanol.

Q. Do you serve Delray Beach and Boynton Beach too?

A. Yes. From Boca we work across southern Palm Beach County, including Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, and Highland Beach, and down to the Broward line.

Q. Who manages the trust and our son's care after we are gone?

A. That is the heart of the plan. A third-party trust names a successor trustee, a professional or a relative, to take over, and a letter of intent tells them how your son lives. The goal is that nothing changes for him when you no longer can help.

Q. Who qualifies for an ABLE account now, and how much fits in one?

A. As of January 1, 2026 the door opened to anyone whose disability started before age 46. The account shelters up to $100,000 from the SSI resource limit and accepts up to $19,000 in a year. Current details are on the SSA ABLE spotlight page.

Q. Does a third-party trust have to repay Medicaid?

A. No. When you fund the trust yourself, as a parent or grandparent, there is no payback, and the remainder goes to whoever you name. Payback applies only to a first-party trust, funded with the beneficiary's own money, which reimburses the state at death under 42 U.S.C. section 1396p(d)(4)(A).

Q. We spend part of the year up North. Does that matter?

A. A Florida special needs trust works for a beneficiary who lives in Florida, and we are used to families who split the year. What matters is where your loved one is a resident and receives benefits.

Q. When should we start special needs planning?

A. Sooner is better. Once a disability is known or expected, there is time to choose the right trust, line up a trustee, and get the benefits coordinated without the pressure of a crisis.

Take the next step

The first step is a conversation. Bring a picture of what your loved one receives now, along with your wills, trusts, life insurance, and beneficiary designations, to the Boca Raton office or a video call. A board-certified elder law attorney will show you which trust fits, who should serve as trustee, and how to fund it so your son or daughter is cared for long after you can no longer do it yourself.

Your loved one keeps the Medicaid and SSI they rely on, and the money you set aside pays for the care and comforts those benefits never reach, on your terms and in your absence. Elder Needs Law offers a free consultation to Palm Beach families, from its Boca Raton office or by video. Contact Elder Needs Law to schedule your consultation.

‍

Elder Needs Law, PLLC. Responsible attorney Jason Neufeld, Board-Certified Elder Law Attorney. Boca Raton office serving Palm Beach County and all of Florida.

This page is general information about Florida and federal law as of its publication date and is not legal advice. Benefit figures and statutes change, so confirm current rules before acting. No reader should act, or refrain from acting, on this information without first hiring a lawyer licensed in their state to review their particular circumstances.