Structuring Special Needs Trusts as IRA Beneficiaries: Avoiding Tax Traps in Funding SNTs With Retirement Accounts

Course Details
- smart_display Format
On-Demand
- signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level
Intermediate
- work Practice Area
Estate Planning
- event Date
Thursday, March 27, 2025
- schedule Time
1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT
- timer Program Length
90 minutes
-
This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.
This CLE course will provide estate planners with an advanced guide to drafting and structuring supplemental and special needs trusts (SNTs). The panel will focus on considerations such as setting up trusts to serve as beneficiaries of retirement accounts and drafting language and traps to avoid structuring third-party SNTs and first-party SNTs.
Faculty

Mr. Rubin focuses his practice on providing legal advice for families of individuals with special needs, including intellectual disabilities, developmental disabilities, physical disabilities, and/or mental illness. He counsels clients concerning estate and tax planning, insurance funding of special needs trusts and probate avoidance.
Description
A critical step in establishing an SNT is determining how to fund the trust. Taxpayers may use some assets, including IRAs, to fund an SNT. However, there are some critical issues that estate planners must navigate to ensure that the trust is structured to preserve public benefits and provide for the special needs beneficiary tax-efficiently.
Estate planners also can utilize ABLE accounts in conjunction with or as an alternative to SNTs. In structuring an estate plan to provide for a beneficiary with special needs, counsel must be mindful of contribution and funding rules and the impact of the trust structure on future public benefits.
Listen as the panel provides a detailed and practical guide to structuring SNTs funded by retirement accounts. The panel will discuss properly structuring trust documents to avoid unwanted tax traps, including sample language and beneficiary structures.
Outline
- Evaluating SNT structures (first-party vs. third-party)
- Drafting practices for SNTs
- Funding the trust
- Special considerations when using retirement accounts to fund SNTs
- See-through provisions unique to SNTs
- Illustrations and sample language
Benefits
The panel will review these and other critical issues:
- How to structure beneficiary designations
- Funding options and requirements of IRAs and other retirement accounts
- Avoiding the "five-year rule"
- Integrating ABLE accounts with SNTs
- Pre-trust strategies
- Impact of "Secure Act 2.0"
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