This course provides a general overview of issues estate planners face in preparing estate plans for families with special needs children. The course assumes that estate planners are knowledgeable about general estate planning matters but are not specialists or experts in special needs planning. Specifically, the course covers the following topics: Learning To Navigate Planning in a Special Needs Environment; Overview of Important Government Benefit Programs Available to Families of Special Needs Children; Unique Estate Planning Challenges for Families of Special Needs Children; Basic Estate Planning Issues for a Special Needs Child's Family; Tax Planning for a Special Needs Child's Family; Coordinating Other Relatives' Estate Planning Documents With The Parents' Third Party SNT; Undertaking a Thorough Review of All the Parent’s Assets; Financial Planning Issues for Families of Special Needs Children; Managing Assets Already Owned by a Special Needs Child; and other related topics.
Final Exam > Results Page
You have not taken the final exam yet. No results are available.
final exam score:
final exam status:
93%
Question 1
Correct
The 2000 U.S. census study of American families estimated that _____ of families are raising at least one child ages 5 to 17 having special needs.
2.4 million
(You Answered) (Correct Answer) 2.8 million
3.9 million
4.1 million
Question 2
Correct
Benefit programs for special needs children that determine eligibility based on the income and assets of recipients are known as:
Entitlement-based government benefit programs
Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) programs
Stipend provision programs
(You Answered) (Correct Answer) Means-tested benefit programs
Question 3
Correct
The Supplemental Security Income program administered by the SSA is funded by:
(You Answered) (Correct Answer) General tax revenues
Employers’ portion of employment taxes
Social Security taxes
Self-employment tax
Question 4
Correct
All of the following are unique challenges of parents’ estate planning for a special needs child except:
Providing for all loved ones without jeopardizing the means-tested government benefits of the special needs child
Supplementing the child’s means-tested government benefits without jeopardizing eligibility of the child
Ensuring funds are sufficient at the time of the parents’ death for long-term care of the child
(You Answered) (Correct Answer) Determining an appropriate amount of life insurance to provide income replacement should the child die prematurely.
Question 5
Correct
What is a reason families of special needs children should create an estate plan rather than allowing the government’s plan to apply to the children?
The government’s approach minimizes death taxes
(You Answered) (Correct Answer) The government’s plan involves probate and possible reimbursement to the government of Medicaid benefits
The government’s plan requires the next of kin to select the guardian for the special needs child
None of the above
Question 6
Correct
What is the purpose of a revocable living trust for the parent of a special needs child?
To manage the child’s inheritance subsequent to the parent’s death
To replace the parent’s last will and testament to avoid having the estate subject to probate
To name or replace the person designated as the durable medical power of attorney
(You Answered) (Correct Answer) To allow discretionary nonsupport distributions to or for the special needs child should the parent become incapacitated
Question 7
Correct
Which of the following is a viable estate planning option to help ensure that a special needs child continues to receive means-tested government benefits:
(You Answered) (Correct Answer) Establishing a third-party SNT
Creating a third-party discretionary support trust
Distributing parents’ assets to the special needs child outright, thereby removing the assets from the parents’ estate
Making “annual exclusion” gifts to a custodial account established under the Uniform Gifts to Minors Act
Question 8
Correct
To avoid the risk of disqualifying the special needs child for means-tested government benefits, it is recommended that relatives not give outright gifts to the child but instead:
Develop an “understanding” with the child’s siblings or spouse regarding the eventual distribution of assets gifted in the name of the siblings or spouse
(You Answered) (Correct Answer) Arrange for gifts, bequests, and inheritances to be received by the child’s third-party SNT
Purposely disinherit the special needs child from the relatives’ wills
Use vehicles such as Coverdell education savings accounts and 401(k) plans for the benefit of the special needs child
Question 9
Correct
Which of the following assets may name the special needs child as beneficiary without jeopardizing his or her eligibility for means-tested government benefits?
U.S. savings bonds
Annuities
Family heirlooms
(You Answered) (Correct Answer) None of the above
Question 10
Incorrect
Which of the following is not a type of trust to which the special needs child’s current disqualifying assets may be transferred to convert them to noncountable funds?
OBRA 1993 special needs trusts
(Correct Answer) Third-party discretionary support trust
(You Answered) (d)(4)(A) Medicaid payback trust
Charitable lead annuity trust
Question 11
Correct
For which of the following situations is the (d)(4)(C) pooled account trust not well suited?
The parents or child wants to benefit the mission of the nonprofit association when the special needs child dies
The nonexempt assets that the special needs child owns are insufficient to justify the costs associated with establishing and administering a Medicaid payback trust
(You Answered) (Correct Answer) The subtrust account is established for both the special needs child and his or her siblings
All of the above are situations for which the pooled account trust is best suited
Question 12
Correct
Under the HIPAA Privacy Rule, a medical provider may release confidential medical information about the special needs individual’s condition only if the recipient of the information has been named the special needs child’s:
(You Answered) (Correct Answer) Personal representative
Healthcare agent
Next of kin
Healthcare trustee
Question 13
Correct
Which of the following programs pays a limited monthly stipend to indigent aged, blind, and disabled individuals?
Medicaid
SSDI
Medicare
(You Answered) (Correct Answer) Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
Question 14
Correct
Under federal law, states can offer Medicaid benefits to children with disabilities who would otherwise be ineligible for SSI benefits because parental income is too high. This is called:
Pooled income benefit program
High income entitlement program
(You Answered) (Correct Answer) Deeming or “Katie Beckett” waiver program
Representative payee program
Question 15
Correct
To avoid a potential challenge by the Social Security Administration, a first-party SNT should:
(You Answered) (Correct Answer) Contain an express irrevocability clause
Give the special needs beneficiary power to revoke the trust
Have a discretionary “payback” provision
Avoid naming a specific individual as the remainder beneficiary