Being the parent to an adult child with disabilities can be both rewarding and challenging. Although you have had your child's lifetime to adjust to your parental responsibilities, there is likely some fear and worry about how your child will be cared for once you are gone. The following are a few things to keep in mind when developing an estate plan to care for your disabled adult child.

#1: Keep records together and organized

Your child's future caregivers need to be up to date on the medical and financial standing of your child once you are gone. Put together a method now for keeping all medical and financial records up to date. This can be a hard copy, such as a caregiver binder, or it can be digital. One benefit of putting together a digital version with all the records in one place is that it can be automatically saved to a cloud service each time it is updated, allowing various caregivers to update the file in real time. Further, ensuring your support team or legal representative has access to the digital file means there will be no worries about finding needed information quickly in the event of your unexpected death. This will ensure your child experiences as little administrative stress as possible during an emotionally trying time.

#2: Create a support team before you need it

Upon your passing, things will likely be a little chaotic at first. This is why you need to have a support team before that day comes. The most noticeable benefit to this is for your child -- they will already be familiar with the support team that is replacing you, which will help lessen a lot of the stress that they are likely experiencing. How this support team looks is different for every family. For example, if you plan to put your child into a care facility upon your passing, sign up now for some of the adult day care services the facility offers. This way your child can transition into the full-time living at the capacity more easily because they are already familiar with the staff and other residents. As another example, If you plan to allow the child to stay in your home with skilled nursing staff, hire the staff right now on a part-time basis so your child can adjust to having caregivers other than you.

#3: Put your financial house in order

Making sure your child's needs are taken care of once you are gone is likely your primary concern. Unless you are wealthy enough to provide for your child for many decades after your passing, you will likely need to patch together funding from both your personal savings and social assistance programs like Social Security Disability. A disability planning attorney can help create an estate plan now that allows you to build a trust for your child in a manner that won't impede their ability to qualify for assistance programs once you are gone.

Finally, make sure you have good representation to help you navigate the legalities and planning stages, as well as to provide ongoing legal assistance once you are gone. Contact a special needs attorney from a company like Life's Plan Inc to begin building this relationship.