• videocam Live Webinar with Live Q&A
  • calendar_month July 29, 2026 @ 1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT
  • signal_cellular_alt Beginner
  • card_travel Family Law
  • schedule 60 minutes

Pooled Special Needs Trusts and ABLE Accounts: Planning Basics

Preserving Public Benefits for Clients and Beneficiaries With Disabilities

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$124.95
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Discount expires 7/15/26

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About the Course

Introduction

This CLE webinar will provide elder law and estate planning counsel with an introductory, practice-ready guide to special needs trusts, pooled special needs trusts, and ABLE accounts. The authoritative speakers will cover identifying public benefits issues, preserving eligibility for means-tested benefits, and evaluating planning options when a client or beneficiary has a disability.

Description

Clients with disabilities, or clients planning for loved ones with disabilities, often require additional consideration within estate planning and related representation. Gifts, inheritances, settlement proceeds, trust distributions, and other assets can affect eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid, and other public benefits. Attorneys must understand means-tested benefits versus entitlement benefits and the risks that follow improper funding or distributions.

Listen as our panel discusses special needs trust and ABLE account basics, including public benefits issues, pooled trust planning, first-party and third-party trust considerations, distribution traps, and practical counseling for clients and families.

Presented By

Sean Murphy, Esq., LL.M.
Counsel and Director of New Clients
Commonwealth Community Trust

Mr. Murphy brings to the organization more than two decades of legal experience spanning insurance, healthcare, and risk-management matters. For the past eleven years, he has served the Commonwealth of Virginia as a Senior Assistant Attorney General, representing multiple healthcare agencies. Mr. Murphy has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Legal Environment of Business at Virginia Commonwealth University for the past three years.

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Ben Tiefenback, Esq., LL.M.
Counsel and Director of Client Services
Commonwealth Community Trust

Mr. Tiefenback is Counsel and Director of Client Services at Commonwealth Community Trust. Prior to joining CCT, he was a trust and estate attorney serving Hampton Roads, the Middle Peninsula, and the Northern Neck. Mr. Tiefenback's practice focused on estate planning and trust creation and administration, with an emphasis on special needs trust planning due to his personal experiences with special needs issues in his family. He currently serves on the board of directors of the Alliance of Pooled Trusts (APT). Mr. Teifenback also writes for CCT and other publications, including NAELA News, and speaks at CLE seminars and other events across the country.

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Credit Information

  • This 60-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.0 CLE credits.


  • Live Online


    On Demand

Date + Time

  • event

    Wednesday, July 29, 2026

  • schedule

    1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT

I. Overview

A. Special needs trusts: standalone and pooled trusts

B. Pooled special needs trust structure, how a client joins

C. Checklist for when to consider recommending a special needs trust

D. Case studies

II. Special needs trust eligibility: public benefits primer

A. Eligibility

B. Means-tested public benefits: SSI, Medicaid

C. Entitlement public benefits: SSDI, Medicare

III. In-depth review of pooled special needs trusts

A. Detailed comparison of standalone vs. pooled special needs trusts

B. Third-party pooled special needs trust

1. Governing law

2. Funded by other people

3. Remainder policy

C. First-party pooled special needs trust

1. Governing law

2. Federal rules on who can set up a sub-account

3. Funds from person with a disability (employment, court award, inheritance, etc.)

4. Remainder policy with Medicaid payback

5. Possible transfer of assets penalty once beneficiary reaches age 65

D. Checklist to review power of attorney of beneficiary

IV. Pooled special needs trusts administration

A. How to evaluate a pooled special needs trust

B. Special needs trust distributions

1. Disbursement decision-making roles and responsibilities

2. How funds can be spent

3. Sole benefit rule for first-party beneficiary

4. Traps that could jeopardize public benefits

V. ABLE accounts

A. Eligibility

B. Disbursement rules

C. How PSNTs and ABLE Act accounts intersect

VI. Practitioner takeaways

The panel will explore these and other key areas:

  • How disability and public benefits issues affect estate planning and elder law representation
  • Means-tested benefits such as SSI and Medicaid vs. entitlement benefits such as SSDI and Medicare
  • When to consider a special needs trust, pooled special needs trust, or ABLE account
  • First-party and third-party special needs trust planning differences
  • Structuring and administering pooled special needs trusts
  • Distribution issues and other traps
  • How ABLE accounts may complement special needs trust planning