Good estate plans should also consider an additional sub category of complexity, namely special planning considerations with respect to guardianship. Although there are other examples, I tend to think of these as including parents of children with special needs (both health-related as well as educational), children with parents requiring elder care and issues related to secondary or tertiary guardians.

If you find yourself with any of the above situations, make sure that your estate planner is considering the special issues of guardianship attached to your estate plan.

• Special Needs Trust — allowing parents, grandparents and guardians to provide funds for a special needs child without disrupting eligibility for government aid.
• Exploring the qualifications of the child’s guardian.  Specifically, are they located close enough to qualified medical personnel?  Can they handle (or are they knowledgeable) about the particularities of caring for your child?
• Have you left enough financial and other resources to care for the child?  Everything from remodeling a house to make it wheelchair accessible to paying for the guardian to stay home full-time should be considered.

I would add another wrinkle here that I think is too often overlooked.  Many times a child has special education needs that don’t necessarily come to planners or parents when they think about future guardianship.  There are many educational matters that need to be explained or provided for and should factor into estate planning.