Special Needs Trust Attorney in Camarillo

Special Needs Trust Attorney in Camarillo

The problem is not that families fail to provide for a disabled child. It is that they provide in the way that does the most damage. A grandparent names the grandchild directly as beneficiary on a life insurance policy, or a will leaves an equal share outright to each child, and the disabled child’s inheritance immediately makes them ineligible for the benefits that pay for their care and their housing.

I am an estate planning attorney serving Camarillo and all of Ventura County. I draft special needs trusts and I coordinate them with the rest of the family’s plan, including the relatives whose beneficiary designations can undo everything. For the broader plan, see estate planning in Camarillo.

Why an outright inheritance causes harm

Supplemental Security Income and Medi-Cal are needs-based. Eligibility depends on countable resources staying under a limit, and an inheritance received outright is a countable resource. A disabled adult receiving SSI who inherits $60,000 outright is generally off benefits until that money is spent, and losing SSI can mean losing the Medi-Cal coverage that comes with it.

That coverage is often the thing paying for services no private policy replaces, including in-home supportive services and long-term care. Trading it for a lump sum that will be gone in two years is a bad trade, and it is entirely avoidable.

California’s Medi-Cal asset test returned on January 1, 2026, under AB 116, at $130,000 for an individual and $195,000 for a couple. The period during which the asset test was suspended is over, which makes this planning relevant again for families who were told a few years ago that it no longer mattered.

Third-party trusts, which is what most Camarillo families need

A third-party special needs trust is funded with someone else’s money, typically the parents’ or grandparents’. Because the beneficiary never owned the assets, there is no Medi-Cal payback at death. Whatever remains passes to whoever you name, usually the disabled beneficiary’s siblings.

This trust can be created now and funded later, or it can be created inside your living trust and come into existence at your death. Either way, the critical step is redirecting everything intended for that child into the trust rather than to the child. That means the will, the living trust, the life insurance beneficiary designation, and the retirement account designation all have to point at the trust.

It also means talking to the grandparents. A single well-meaning grandparent naming the child directly on a policy can undo an otherwise careful plan, and that is the most common failure I see in practice.

First-party trusts, for money the beneficiary already has

When the disabled person already owns the assets, from a personal injury settlement, an inheritance received outright, or accumulated savings, the tool is a first-party special needs trust under 42 U.S.C. §1396p(d)(4)(A). It must be established before the beneficiary turns sixty-five, and at their death the state must be reimbursed from what remains for Medi-Cal benefits paid.

That payback requirement is why a third-party trust is always preferable when there is a choice. Families who receive a settlement, or who discover that an inheritance already landed in the disabled person’s name, are past the point of choosing, and the first-party trust preserves eligibility going forward even with the payback.

A pooled trust under (d)(4)(C), administered by a nonprofit, is a reasonable alternative for smaller amounts where a standalone trust is not economical.

	Third-party trust	First-party trust (42 U.S.C. §1396p(d)(4)(A))
Whose money	Someone else’s, typically the parents’ or grandparents’	The beneficiary’s own: a personal injury settlement, an inheritance received outright, or accumulated savings
Medi-Cal payback at death	None. Whatever remains passes to whoever you name, usually the disabled beneficiary’s siblings	The state must be reimbursed from what remains for Medi-Cal benefits paid
When it can be set up	Now and funded later, or inside your living trust so it comes into existence at your death	Before the beneficiary turns sixty-five
Which to prefer	Always preferable when there is a choice	For families past the point of choosing; it preserves eligibility going forward even with the payback

What the trust can pay for

The trustee makes distributions that supplement rather than replace what benefits provide. Education, therapies and equipment not covered by Medi-Cal, travel, a computer, recreation, a vehicle, and personal care attendants are typical. Direct cash to the beneficiary is not, and distributions for shelter can reduce the SSI payment, so a trustee needs to understand the rules before writing checks.

ABLE accounts complement the trust for smaller amounts. A person whose disability began before age forty-six can hold an ABLE account, and balances up to $100,000 are disregarded for SSI. It gives the beneficiary direct control over modest funds without the trustee involvement a trust requires.

Choosing the trustee matters as much as the drafting. This trust may run for decades. A sibling who understands the beneficiary but not the benefit rules, paired with a professional co-trustee or a competent administrator, is often the right structure. See special needs trust administration.

The Camarillo house and the $2,000 SSI line

The SSI resource limit for a single person is $2,000 (20 C.F.R. § 416.1205). The typical Camarillo home is worth $909,235 (Zillow Home Value Index, August 2026). The house doesn’t decide eligibility by itself, because SSI doesn’t count a home a person lives in, regardless of its value (20 C.F.R. § 416.1212(b)). The trouble starts when the ownership or the residence changes.

Situation	SSI treatment
Your child owns the house and lives in it	Not counted, whatever it’s worth (§ 416.1212(b))
Your child moves out without intending to return and keeps the house	The home becomes a countable resource (§ 416.1212(c))
The house is sold and the proceeds buy another home within 3 months	Proceeds are excluded to the extent used for that purchase (§ 416.1212(e)(1))
The house is sold and the cash sits in your child’s account	Outside that exclusion, so it counts toward the $2,000 limit

A house left outright to a disabled adult child works while he lives there and fails on the day he moves to supported housing. A special needs trust that owns the house changes the analysis, and the trustee has to know the shelter rules before the house becomes anyone’s home. If the house isn’t in a trust at all, it goes through probate at the Juvenile Justice Center in Oxnard first. On the typical Camarillo home, the fee schedule in Prob. Code §§ 10800 and 10810 allows $21,185 to each of the executor and the attorney, figured on gross value with no deduction for the mortgage.

Tri-Counties Regional Center and the trust

Tri-Counties Regional Center is the nonprofit regional center for people with developmental disabilities in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, so it’s the regional center for Camarillo. The trust and the center’s services need to fit together. Before I draft the distribution standards, I ask for your child’s current service plan, so the trustee pays for what the services don’t cover and doesn’t duplicate what they do. I work with Camarillo families by Zoom or phone, and the plan review happens the same way.

When a court has to approve the trust

Prob. Code § 3604 applies when a court orders a minor’s or disabled person’s money paid to a special needs trust, as it might with a settlement or a judgment. In that case the terms of the trust have to be reviewed and approved by the court, and the trust stays under the court’s continuing jurisdiction. The court may transfer jurisdiction to the court in the proper county (§ 3604(a)(1)). The trust a parent signs in an estate plan isn’t created by that kind of order.

The court has to find that the person has a disability that substantially impairs the ability to provide for their own care, that special needs will go unmet without the trust, and that the money going in doesn’t exceed what appears reasonably necessary (§ 3604(b)). If those requirements aren’t met, or the trustee refuses without good cause to pay for the beneficiary’s special needs, a state department or a county with a claim against the trust property can petition to terminate it (§ 3604(c)). Ventura County hears its probate and trust matters at the Juvenile Justice Center in Oxnard.

Questions Camarillo clients ask

Will an inheritance disqualify my disabled child from SSI or Medi-Cal? If it goes to them outright, generally yes, until it is spent down. Directing it into a properly drafted special needs trust instead preserves eligibility while still providing for them.

What is the difference between a third-party and a first-party trust? A third-party trust is funded with someone else’s money, usually a parent’s, and has no Medi-Cal payback at death. A first-party trust is funded with the beneficiary’s own money, must be established before age sixty-five, and requires the state be reimbursed at death.

What is the Medi-Cal asset limit in California now? The asset test returned on January 1, 2026 under AB 116, at $130,000 for an individual and $195,000 for a couple. The suspension of the asset test that applied in prior years has ended.

Can the trust pay my child’s rent? It can, but distributions for shelter are treated as in-kind support and can reduce the SSI benefit. A trustee should understand that tradeoff before making housing payments, since sometimes the reduction is worth accepting and sometimes it is not.

What about grandparents who want to leave something? They need to leave it to the trust, not to the child. A direct beneficiary designation by a grandparent is the single most common way an otherwise sound plan gets undone. It is worth a conversation with every relative likely to name the child.

Do we still need a trust if we set up an ABLE account? Usually yes. ABLE accounts have annual contribution limits and a balance threshold above which SSI is affected, so they work well for modest amounts and day-to-day control. A special needs trust handles the larger inheritance an ABLE account cannot.

Book a consultation at https://ridley.click/eric-60 or call 805-244-5291. I serve Camarillo and all of Ventura County. For the rest of the topic, see the California special needs trust guide.

Can my son keep living in our Camarillo house after I die? Yes, if the plan is built for it, and how depends on who owns the house. If he owns it and lives there, SSI doesn’t count the home, whatever it’s worth (20 C.F.R. § 416.1212(b)), but it becomes countable if he moves out without intending to return (§ 416.1212(c)). If a special needs trust owns it, the trustee has to understand how housing support affects his benefits before he lives there.

Does the special needs trust I sign for my daughter need a judge’s approval? Not on its own. Prob. Code § 3604 covers a special needs trust that a court orders funded with a minor’s or disabled person’s money, such as a settlement. A trust in your estate plan isn’t created by that kind of order. If your daughter later receives a settlement, § 3604 comes into play for that money.