Keith Miles

Social Security benefits will rise only slightly in 2017. This follows no increase in benefits in 2016 and small increases for many of the previous years.

Are your Medicare plans still working for you? Medicare's open enrollment period, in which you can enroll in or switch plans, runs from October 15 to December 7.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could influence how millions of special needs children are educated under the federal law that requires public schools to provide children with disabilities a “free appropriate public education.” 

We have a brother with special needs -- a documented intellectual disability -- who works full time and does not receive benefits. Our father just died and we have money coming, but he did not include our brother in his estate plan.  Are we legally able to set up a trust from our inheritance for the benefit of our brother?

The Technical Assistance Collaborative (TAC) recently published “Section 8 Made Simple – Special Edition,” a guide that can help applicants and their advocates understand this complicated program.  

Can a special needs trust pay for the beneficiary's doctor-prescribed special diet?

Is there an organization that evaluates pooled trusts and rates them like other charities?

In an unexpected move, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is forbidding nursing homes from entering into binding arbitration agreements with a resident or their representative before a dispute arises.  

If your child receives Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits and is going to turn 18, you should talk with your special needs planner about some important changes that could significantly impact your child's SSI benefit.

The Special Needs Trust Fairness Act, a bill that would allow people with disabilities to create their own first-party special needs trusts without having to rely on others, has passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 382 to 22.