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- Focused practice in estate planning, special needs planning, trust administration, probate, and conservatorships
- Transparent flat-fee pricing on many services, discussed with you up front
- Virtual and in-person consultations available throughout California
- A family-centered approach built around your goals, never a generic template
- Serving Los Angeles County, Ventura County, and the surrounding Southern California communities
Planning With Heart. Protecting What Matters.
Schedule a Free ConsultationA Special Needs Trust Lawyer in Los Angeles, CA, Who Offers Planning Shaped by Real Experience, Not Just Legal Training
Planning for a loved one with a disability comes with questions that legal training alone cannot fully capture. At Chaney Counsel, Los Angeles special needs planning attorney Lindsey Chaney brings firsthand family experience navigating disability-related systems to your situation, alongside the legal knowledge needed to build a thoughtful plan.
We know the questions that keep you up at night as the caretaker of someone with a disability, and we recognize that these issues aren’t just legal and logistical, but personal, too. Our estate planning firm is committed to “planning with heart,” and no service exemplifies that dedication quite the same way as our special needs planning assistance does.
If you have been worried about how to provide for the future of a loved one with disabilities, we would be honored to help you put solutions in place that provide real peace of mind for the whole family. Reach out to our firm for a free consultation, and let’s talk about your loved one’s needs. Our firm provides transparent pricing information upfront and can often assist families on a flat-fee basis, so you understand what getting legal help will cost before you decide how to move forward.
Ready to Protect What Matters Most? Let’s Start the Conversation.
Every family’s situation is different. Talk with our team about your goals, and we will walk you through the options, the process, and what it costs before you commit to anything.
Protecting Your Loved One’s Access to Benefits Takes the Right Combination of Tools
Many of the benefits your loved one may rely on, including SSI and certain Medi-Cal programs, limit how much they can hold in countable assets, such as cash, bank accounts, or property, in their own name. That means how you plan matters just as much as whether you plan at all. A gift, an inheritance, or even a well-intentioned relative's generosity can put access to those benefits at risk if it isn't structured the right way.
The good news is that no single document has to carry this entire burden. Special needs trusts, ABLE accounts, guardianship or conservatorship planning, and a letter of intent each play a different role. Many families may benefit from using more than one of these tools together, depending on the loved one’s needs, age, assets, and benefits.
Working with our Los Angeles special needs planning attorney means having someone on your side who will walk you through what each of these different solutions actually does and help you determine what combination of planning tools is right for your family.
A Direct Inheritance Can Cost Your Loved One Their Benefits
An inheritance should provide greater security for your loved one with disabilities, not destabilize their life. But if your loved one with a disability inherits money or property directly in a will, through a beneficiary designation, or by any other means, it can disqualify them from benefits they depend on.
Supplemental Security Income has a resource limit of just $2,000 for an individual, an amount that hasn't changed in decades. Even a modest inheritance can push someone over that limit and cause a loss of benefits until the money is spent down.
This is precisely why leaving money to a loved one with a disability requires a different approach than leaving money to anyone else in your family. Good intentions alone can create a real problem if the legal structure behind them isn't right.
A Los Angeles Special Needs Planning Attorney Who's Lived This, Not Just Studied It
Attorney Lindsey Chaney's interest in special needs planning didn't start in a classroom. It started with her own family's experience navigating disability-related systems and long-term planning considerations. This kind of firsthand experience has given her real insight into what caregivers actually face, not just the legal frameworks surrounding this area of estate planning.
Motivated by that purpose, Lindsey embarked on her career in law. She earned her Juris Doctor from Mitchell Hamline School of Law, graduating Magna Cum Laude, and gained courtroom and litigation experience before focusing her practice on estate planning and family-centered legal services. Today, she works closely with families throughout Los Angeles County, Ventura County, and the surrounding Southern California community, guided by a "planning with heart" philosophy that treats this work as more than paperwork.
If you're navigating this kind of planning for the first time, it helps to work with a Los Angeles special needs planning attorney whose understanding is informed by personal family experience, not legal study alone.
Understanding What a Special Needs Trust Does and How It Supports a Loved One With Disabilities
A special needs trust holds assets for your loved one's benefit without those assets counting against the resource limits that benefit programs enforce.
The trust can pay for many goods and services that improve your loved one’s quality of life without the trust itself necessarily counting against means-tested benefit limits. However, some distributions, including cash paid directly to the beneficiary or certain shelter expenses, can reduce SSI benefits, so distributions need to be handled carefully.
A special needs trust lawyer in Los Angeles, CA, can walk you through which category fits your family. In California, there are two main categories of special needs trusts that families should consider:
- Third-party: A third-party special needs trust is funded with someone else's money, typically a parent or family member planning ahead, and offers the most flexibility.
- First-party: A first-party special needs trust is funded with the beneficiary’s own assets and comes with stricter rules, including a Medicaid payback requirement that generally gives states that provided medical assistance a claim against remaining trust assets after the beneficiary’s death.
Getting the right type of special needs trust in place, ideally before it's needed, can help your family avoid unintended consequences or being left with only the more restrictive options later.
Choosing a Trustee Is Different, and More High-Stakes, in the Case of a Special Needs Trust
The person or institution managing the special needs trust you establish for your loved one may be making decisions for decades, especially if there’s a chance that your loved one could potentially outlive you by many years. That's a different commitment than most other trustee roles, and it's worth thinking through trust administration in the context of a special needs trust carefully.
Some families choose a trusted family member who understands their loved one's needs personally. Others choose a professional trustee or trust company, especially when the trust needs to last a very long time or when family dynamics make a neutral party the safer choice. Many families ultimately choose a combination of these options, naming a family member for personal knowledge and a professional co-trustee for financial management and continuity.
Whoever takes on this role also takes on real fiduciary responsibility: managing assets prudently, keeping accurate records, and providing accountings to your loved one or their advocates.
ABLE Accounts Work Alongside a Special Needs Trust
An ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience) account is a tax-advantaged savings account available to people whose disability began before a certain age. In 2026, the eligibility window for an ABLE account expanded significantly to include disabilities that began before age 46.
As of 2026, up to $20,000 can be contributed annually, and up to $100,000 held in the account is excluded from SSI's resource limit entirely.
An ABLE account isn't a replacement for a special needs trust, since it holds far less than a trust typically can and comes with its own contribution limits. But used together, the two tools complement each other well, giving your loved one a degree of accessible savings alongside the larger protections a living trust provides.
Medi-Cal's Asset Rules Have Changed Repeatedly, and That's Exactly Why Legal Guidance Matters
Medi-Cal's asset rules have shifted significantly in recent years, changing more than once and leaving families with questions about benefits eligibility. California eliminated asset limits for many Non-MAGI Medi-Cal programs in 2024, but beginning January 1, 2026, asset limits were reinstated for many people who qualify based on age, disability, or long-term-care needs. The applicable rules depend on the specific Medi-Cal program, which is one reason special needs planning should be coordinated with current benefits eligibility requirements.
What applied to your family two years ago may not apply today, and what applies today may shift again.
This kind of ongoing change is difficult to plan around without someone actively tracking it. A special needs trust lawyer in Los Angeles, CA, can tell you what the current rules actually require for your loved one's specific benefits, rather than relying on outdated information that may no longer be accurate.
Planning for the Transition to Adulthood When Your Loved One Has Disabilities
When your loved one turns 18, they're legally considered an adult, regardless of their actual ability to manage their own affairs. If your loved one can make their own decisions with appropriate support, less restrictive tools such as supported decision-making, a power of attorney, or an advance health care directive may help preserve independence while providing needed assistance. If those alternatives are not sufficient, a limited or general conservatorship may need to be considered, depending on the person’s abilities and needs. Ideally, these possibilities should be explored well before your loved one’s 18th birthday arrives.
This transition deserves planning of its own, separate from but connected to the special needs trust itself, since it determines who can legally act on your loved one's behalf once they're no longer a minor. A Los Angeles special needs planning attorney can help you think through this well before that birthday arrives, rather than scrambling as it approaches.
Your Own Planning Around Medical, Legal, and Financial Decision-Making Protects Your Loved One, Too
Caring for a loved one with a disability often means their day-to-day well-being depends heavily on you: specifically, your presence, your judgment, and your involvement in their care. If something happened to you and you hadn't planned for that, the gap could disrupt your loved one's care at exactly the wrong moment.
Your own power of attorney and advance health care directive let you name someone you trust to make financial and medical decisions on your behalf if you're ever unable to. Choosing someone who already understands your loved one's needs and routines, not just someone you trust in the abstract, can make the difference between a smooth transition and a disruptive one for your loved one. This is worth planning alongside the special needs trust itself, not as an afterthought once everything else is settled.
A Letter of Intent Guides Whoever Cares for Your Loved One Next
A special needs trust handles the legal and financial side of planning, but it can't capture your loved one's daily routines, preferences, medical history, or the small details that make their care actually feel like their care. A letter of intent is a practical, non-legal document that does exactly that, providing the information that matters to whoever steps into a caregiving role after you can no longer handle these tasks.
This document isn't legally binding, but it's often the most personally valuable thing you leave behind for a future caregiver. Whether the recipient is a sibling, a professional caregiver, or a trustee trying to understand what your loved one actually needs day to day, we can guide you in the process of writing a letter of intent that covers what matters most.
The Rest of Your Family Needs to Know How Special Needs Estate Planning Affects a Loved One With Disabilities, Too
A well-drafted special needs trust can be undone by a well-meaning grandparent, aunt, or uncle who leaves money directly to your loved one without realizing what it could cost them. This happens more often than families expect, usually from people who love your loved one and have no idea their gift could jeopardize benefits.
A special needs trust lawyer in Los Angeles, CA, can give you the language to have that conversation. With this guidance, letting extended family know that any gifts or inheritance should go through the trust instead of directly to your loved one is a simple conversation that can prevent a serious, avoidable problem.
Why Choose Chaney Counsel as Your Special Needs Trust Lawyer in Los Angeles, CA?
Effective special needs planning is shaped by lived experience, not just legal knowledge, and it shows in how Chaney Counsel approaches guidance for every family we work with.
Lindsey Understands This Firsthand, Not Just Professionally
Her own family's experience with disability planning shapes how she listens and what she anticipates, before you even have to explain it.
We Help Protect the Benefits Your Loved One Already Relies On
Every recommendation is made with an eye toward preserving eligibility for the programs your loved one depends on now and in the future.
You Get Guidance That Meets You Where You Are
Whether this situation is entirely new to you or you've been navigating disability systems for years, we adjust to your level of familiarity rather than talking over or under it.
Every Plan Reflects Your Loved One's Specific Needs, Not a Standard Template
No two situations are the same, and your plan shouldn't be, either. At our estate planning firm, we tailor every plan to the family’s individual circumstances.
Contact Chaney Counsel Today for a Free Consultation With a Los Angeles Special Needs Planning Attorney Today
You don't have to figure this out from scratch, and you don't have to explain the basics of caregiving to someone who's never lived it. Call 818-600-7031 or fill out our online contact form today to schedule a free consultation with a Los Angeles special needs planning attorney at Chaney Counsel, and let's talk through what your loved one actually needs.