Disability in Canada – Future Life Planning for People with disabilities

Often emotion and some confusion will mark the lives of people who have disabilities when it comes to long range planning by their loved ones or families when they die without leaving specific plans and resources for their family member with a disability. However, with no future plan, the courts and public agencies will move in to deal with the problem, which are currently beset with government fiscal woes and growing bureaucracies services. Families who want to leave money to their son or daughter or perhaps grandchildren with a disability may disqualify them from most of the public programs available to people with disabilities in Canada. Programs such as the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP), Supportive Independent Living, assisted public housing and a host of services and programs, all require recipients to have resources of less than their provincial asset limit. The current threshold limit in Ontario is $5,000.

There are choices for lifetime planning, but it seems very few families who have a family member with a disability ever actually take steps to provide resources and programs for their family member after their death. People with disabilities are facing increasingly tragic outcomes without any adequate future planning has been planned for their ongoing financial security after they’ve gone. Sometimes people with a disability, can in their later years be destined to eke out a meager living relying on homeless shelters and/or food banks. In Canada alone, there are more than 1,000,000 people with a disability living with their families who have made no provision for them when the family members are no longer alive or able to provide assistance.

There are currently acceptable estate planning procedures whereby a person with a disability can participate in the benefits of an estate without jeopardizing their government benefits and entitlements. Disinheriting a child with a disability is not allowed in most provinces however an inheritance left in an absolute discretionary or special needs trust is considered an exempt asset in the majority of provinces and states. Families should familiarize themselves with these procedures before meeting with a lawyer they should engage the services of a financial planner with experience and expert knowledge in this area to assist with the family’s estate plans. A reputable “Life Planner” or “Chartered Life Planner” (Ch lp) will recognize that most families who have a family member with a disability have limited resources. The planner’s primary job is to find available resources and reallocate them to the trust so that the future funding of the trust will be realistic without offending other children or creating a drawn-out legal battle should they or the government place claims against the estate and the financial plan.

In consultation with parents, caregivers and associations who support people with disabilities, Life TRUST Planning has developed a Comprehensive Life PLAN to financially assist people with disabilities when there are no longer any family members available. Life TRUST Planning offers workshops and seminars to help parents and relatives create a Comprehensive Life PLAN for their child or relative. Topics include Government entitlements, Disability Tax Credits, a Letter of intent, a Henson trust, how to select trustees, estate distribution and a living Legacy Life TRUSTPlan.

Want to find out more about future life planning for people with a disability in Canada, then visit John Dowson , Ch lp’s site on how to choose the best life plan for your needs. For more information or to book a seminar Contact: LifeTRUST Planning,60 Harrison Dr. Newmarket Ont. L3Y 4P4 1 1-800-638-7256