Originally published in June 2022, the original version of this Voice® article was prepared by attorneys practicing with retired SNA member Charlene Quade. The article was updated in 2026 with appreciation and gratitude for the original authors’ work, with revisions by Scott Suzuki. Marriage is a significant event in a person’s life, accompanied by excitement, [...]
Have You Heard About HOTMA? Eligibility Rules Are Changing for Subsidized Housing This issue of the Voice was written by SNA member Emily Starr, CELA, of Starr Traiger LLP in Worcester, Massachusetts. Serving central Massachusetts, her firm specializes in special needs planning, estate and trust administration, guardianship and conservatorship, estate planning, and elder law. The [...]
This issue of The Voice® was written by SNA member Angela Macey-Cushman of Macey-Cushman & Reilly, PLLC in Edmonds, WA. Her firm specializes in special needs trusts, long-term care planning, estate planning, and administration and settlement trusts. A Special Needs Trust (SNT) for a loved one is a wonderful way to provide support without endangering [...]
This issue of the Voice was written by SNA member Twyla Sketchley, B.C.S. of the Sketchley Law Firm, P.A. in Tallahassee, Florida. She specializes in guardianship, elder law, fiduciary representation, estate planning, and the prevention and maltreatment of elders and people with disabilities. Caring for elderly or infirm loved ones is difficult. It can bring [...]
This issue of The Voice® was written by SNA member Emily R. Taylor of Emily Taylor Law in Phoenix, Arizona. Serving all areas of Arizona, her firm specializes in special needs planning, estate planning, and guardianship and alternatives. The holidays are a time for generosity, and many families want to pick out something special for [...]
This issue of The Voice® was written by SNA member Ashely Shannon Burke, CELA, of Burke & Pecquet, LLC in Cincinnati, Ohio. The firm focuses on special needs planning, elder law, Medicaid and estate planning. Are you ready for when disaster strikes? According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), approximately 57 percent of American [...]
This issue of The Voice® was written by SNA member Michelle M. Mulvena, of Mulvena Winston PC in Stoneham, Massachusetts. The firm focuses on disability and elder law, including special needs planning, long-term care, Medicaid planning, guardianships and conservatorships, estate planning, asset protection, and trust administration. When a child with disabilities reaches the age of [...]
This issue of The Voice® was written by SNA members Thomas Begley, Jr., CELA, and Emily Schurr of the Begley Law Group in Moorestown, NJ. The firm focuses on all areas of elder and disability law, including estate planning, special needs planning, special needs trusts, personal injury settlements, Medicaid planning and applications, estate and trust [...]
This article is an updated version of one originally published in August 2014 by SNA member Ed Wilcenski of Wilcenski & Pleat, PLLC in Clifton Park, NY, and now-retired SNA member Barbara Hughes. Studies indicate that divorce rates increase with the onset of a disability. While any divorce is likely to be disruptive, when one [...]
This issue of The Voice® was written by SNA members Thomas Begley, Jr., CELA, and Emily Schurr of the Begley Law Group in Moorestown, NJ. The firm focuses on all areas of elder and disability law, including estate planning, special needs planning, special needs trusts, personal injury settlements, Medicaid planning and applications, estate and trust [...]
This issue of the Voice® is written by SNA Public Policy Advisor Brian Lindberg, Vice President of Health and Aging Policy with Healthsperien LLC in Washington, DC. We all know the real estate maxim, Location, Location, Location. But I am a public policy advisor, not a realtor, so my maxim is Relationships, Relationships, Relationships! Advocacy [...]
This issue of The Voice® was written by SNA member W. Seth Todd of Yussman Special Needs Law & Wyatt Estate Planning in Louisville, KY. His firm serves all of Kentucky and specializes in special needs law and estate planning. It’s that time of year again. If you are the trustee of a special [...]
This issue of The Voice® was written by SNA member Victoria Sulerzyski of Bowie & Jenson, LLC in Towson, Maryland. Her firm serves all of Maryland and focuses on special needs planning, elder law, guardianship, and estate planning and administration. Special needs planners provide expert legal planning and advocacy to and on behalf of families [...]
This issue of The Voice® is written by Lisa Nachmias Davis, CELA, a partner in the New Haven, Connecticut firm of Davis O’Sullivan & Priest, LLC. If you’re reading this article and have a child or family member with special needs, you’ve probably already set up a third-party special needs trust (sometimes called a supplemental [...]
This issue of The Voice® was written by SNA member Kristen M. Lewis of Harrison, LLP in Atlanta, Georgia. Her firm focuses on special needs, estate and trust administration, guardianship and conservatorship, and estate planning. A professional care manager may be the most valuable – yet least recognized – member of a family’s team of [...]
This issue of The Voice® is written by SNA member Thomas Begley, CELA of Begley Law Group in Moorestown, New Jersey. His firm specializes in special needs planning, special needs trusts, guardianship, and estate planning. When a personal injury settlement is received, the first reaction for many people is, “Let’s use the money to fund [...]
This issue of The Voice® is written by SNA member Kristin L. Steckbeck with Dale, Huffman & Babcock in Bluffton, Indiana. Serving northeastern Indiana, her firm focuses on special needs planning, estate planning, long-term care planning and probate, estate, and trust administration. Administering a supplemental need trust (SNT) for a beneficiary receiving federally subsidized [...]
This issue of The Voice® was written by SNA member Kristen M. Lewis and her colleague Emma H. Barry, both of Harrison, LLP in Atlanta, Georgia. Their firm focuses on special needs, estate and trust administration, guardianship and conservatorship and estate planning. People with disabilities were created as sexual beings, just like people without disabilities. [...]
This issue of The Voice® is written by SNA member Shannon Laymon-Pecoraro, CELA of Parks Zeigler, PLLC in Virginia Beach, VA. Her firm’ services clients in the areas of family law, elder law, special needs planning, and will, trusts, and estates.
This issue of The Voice® is written by Lauretta K. Murphy of Miller Johnson in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She focuses her practice on estate planning, elder law, disability and special needs planning, guardianship and conservatorships and wills and trust disputes.