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Special Disability Trusts

Special Disability Trusts

Are you worried about the effect a lump-sum inheritance may have on your beneficiary’s entitlement to receive a pension?

If one of your beneficiaries has a severe disability, a Special Disability Trust may enable you to access social security means test concessions for their benefit.

A Special Disability Trust is designed to assist those who have the financial means to do so to make private financial provision for the care and accommodation needs of a family member with severe disability and to receive means test concessions.

Put simply, assets within a Special Disability Trust (up to a certain limit) are exempt for the purposes of determining the beneficiary’s entitlement to receive a pension.

For advice about a Special Disability Trust for your family member, start by booking an estate planning conference.

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Special Disability Trust Will

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FAQs

Before a Special Disability Trust is established, the prospective beneficiary must be assessed as severely disabled under the legislation for this type of trust. More information on the assessment process is available here.
The fund must be used for the care and accommodation needs of a family member with severe disability. The trust can only have one beneficiary. There are strict limits on the amount that can be spent in a financial year on discretionary items not related to the care and accommodation needs of the beneficiary of the trust.
There are two concessions.
  1. For the principal beneficiary, all assessable trust assets up to the concessional asset value limit are exempt from the social security assets test. Where the assets of the trust exceed the limit, the amount in excess of the limit will be counted as assessable assets for the person and will be assessed against the relevant assets test thresholds.
  2. Where immediate family members contributing to the trust are in receipt of a social security or veterans’ entitlement payment and are within five years of Age Pension age or older, they may be eligible to receive a concession from the usual social security or veterans’ entitlement rules relating to making gifts (disposal of assets).
The Department of Social Services publishes useful information about Special Disability Trusts. You can find that information here. For specific advice about your circumstances, please contact us to book an estate planning conference.

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Thanks for today Michael. We really appreciated your assistance and kind and approachable demeanour.
WA financial planner
October 31, 2024
Booking process was very good with useful references & information. Highly professional support & service, very cIear explanations & answers to any questions. Thanks for the excellent services.
August 12, 2024
Lucy, Thank you for meeting with me yesterday – as I said very illuminating and great to review and clear the complexity and arrive at simplicity, at least as far as the legal system will allow it
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July 12, 2024
Our experience was excellence! Sean was very thorough and clearly explained the Wills, EPOA and EPOG processes. He took into consideration our queries with straight forward understanding.
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July 12, 2024
Isla was a great help to us when we rang to confirm the company’s bank details. As new internet banking users, Isla was very patient with us.  
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I had a great experience; my Will was processed with efficiency and care. Thank you Sean for all your help.
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July 8, 2024

Meet our team

We’re a tight-knit, multi-disciplinary team of lawyers, legal executives, accountants and software developers.  We’re also passionate community leaders, sportspeople, podcasters, musicians, parents… and proud that these interests inform our professional lives.
Legal Practitioner Director
Michael is an experienced succession and property lawyer and has served the Western Australian community as a legal practitioner for over 27 years at Curae Law.  Michael has represented clients, both in and out of court, in matters spanning……
Legal Practitioner Director
Lucy leads our non-contentious Wills and estates team to provide easy to understand succession and estate administration advice. As well as practising law, she brings together people, technology and processes to design and deliver our innovative legal services. Lucy,……
Lawyer
Sean is a dedicated lawyer within the wills and probate team, specialising in guiding individuals through the intricacies of legal matters such as wills, powers of attorney, and powers of guardianship. In the realm of estate planning, Sean offers……
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