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Preparing for a Loved One with a Disability

This kind of preparation has to hold up over decades. That means keeping benefits intact, making sure support continues, and knowing someone you trust is ready to step in when you can't. We'll start wherever you are with it.

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How I Came to This Work

I serve on the board of Best Buddies in Fresno, an organization that builds friendship, leadership, and employment opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It is some of the most meaningful work I get to be part of, and it has taught me a great deal about what these families carry.

Planning looks different when you are preparing for a lifetime rather than a retirement. The questions are harder and the timeline is longer. What happens to your son or daughter when you are no longer the one providing care? How do you leave something behind without putting the benefits they rely on at risk? These are not questions to work through alone, and they are not questions that fit neatly into a standard strategic conversation.

I am glad to sit down with any family thinking about this, and I work alongside the attorneys who handle the legal side. If you are just beginning to think about it, that is exactly the right time to start.

Before You Update Your Will

A lot of families name their child directly in a will or on a beneficiary form. It's the natural thing to do, and it can cause real problems. Money left directly to someone receiving needs-based benefits like SSI or Medi-Cal can interrupt those benefits at exactly the moment the family is least able to deal with it. There are ways to structure things so that doesn't happen.

I'm not an attorney and I don't draft documents. I work alongside one who specializes in special needs trusts and estate planning, so you're not sent off to find someone on your own and explain your whole situation again from the beginning. My part is helping you work out what the plan needs to do, and making sure anything you hold through me points the right direction. If your estate documents are already done, the beneficiary designations are still worth a second look.

Start Wherever You Are

You don't need paperwork, numbers, or a decision. Thirty minutes, whatever questions you have, and an honest answer about whether I'm the right person to help. If I'm not, I'll say so and try to point you somewhere better.

Preparing for a Loved One with a Disability

How I Came to This Work

Before You Update Your Will

Start Wherever You Are

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