One unexpected inheritance can knock a loved one off critical benefits, and most families don't find out until it is too late. Keeler and Nadler's Mark Beaver sits in the host chair for this episode and welcomes special needs planning attorneys Logan Phillips and Derek Graham of Phillips and Graham. Together, this vital conversation lays out a clear, practical approach to special needs estate planning and special needs financial planning, built for real life instead of legal theory.

We talk through what “special needs planning” actually means: not just drafting a trust, but creating clarity around Medicaid, SSI, county board services, and the long timeline families are really navigating. Logan and Derek explain when families typically start planning, why connecting with the County Board of Developmental Disabilities matters, and how Medicaid waivers can fund life-changing supports.

Then, Mark, Logan and Derek get specific about the money rules that create the biggest pitfalls: the $2,000 asset limit, how a typical estate plan can accidentally disqualify a person with a disability, and how a third-party discretionary trust often protects benefits. Listen to the very end too as our guests share a key planning lever many financial advisors miss: Disabled Adult Child Benefits and how a parent’s Social Security retirement timing can change outcomes.

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