Guardianships

Live webcast on 10/01/2025 at Noon
Administering Special Needs Trusts can be particularly problematic because it involves caring for beneficiaries with special needs and the risk of losing critical benefits. This program will cover the common problems attorneys encounter in administering special needs trust including finding a good trustee, managing the beneficiary’s expectations, handling distributions, handling a failed trust, and dealing with creditors. This program will also cover common solutions including decanting, trust termination, NJSAs, guardianships, changing trustees, as well as using pooled trusts, corporate trustees, trust protectors, care managers, and considering ABLE accounts as an alternative. Understanding the problems and solutions in administering special needs trusts will enable you to better advise your clients on creating a special needs trust in addition to solving problems after they arise.

This full-day webcast, tailored for attorneys dealing with the complexities of guardianship law, offers in-depth discussions on key topics such as guardianship transfers, drafting pleadings, visitation and marriage rights under Illinois law, and the role of non-bank fiduciaries.

Everyone knows that Special Needs Trust protect assets from being counted for public benefits eligibility, but which public benefits are doing the counting and how are they counting? The eligibility rules for each program are different and can feel like an endless wormhole to practitioners. End the confusion and learn the basics of eligibility for Medicaid, Medicare, SSI, SSDI, HUD, Link, and PASS. Understanding the eligibility rules for these programs will enable you to advise your clients on whether a special needs trust is right for them or a loved one.

This comprehensive resource equips attorneys to confidently navigate sensitive legal responsibilities, from appointing guardians to managing end-of-life decisions.

Guardianship estates involving special needs trusts have special issues. Learn how to establish 1st part SNTS in both adult and minor guardianships, how to handle a ward’s beneficial interest in a 3rd party SNT, obtaining court approval for PI settlements payable to an SNT, handling the payment of annuity income to an SNT, managing distributions for minor and adult wards, and the notice and accounting issues particular to both probate and special needs trusts.

This course addresses the issues faced by attorneys when they are required to obtain court approval of a settlement involving a minor. The presentation will cover the interplay between common law, local court rules, and the Probate Act.

Whether you are acting as the attorney in a Guardianship for the Petitioner, the Respondent or as the Guardian ad litem, this course will help you navigate through some of the stumbling blocks you may encounter at the different stages of pleadings, discovery and hearings in adult and minor guardianships.