National Conference
2025 National Conference on
Special Needs Planning and Special Needs Trusts Main Conference
Thursday, October 23, 2025
8:00 a.m.-8:20 a.m.
Welcome and Announcements and TEAM Introduction
Mark Bauer and TEAM
[Description]
8:20 a.m.-9:20 a.m.
Advocacy – An Essential Part of a Special Needs Practice, Now More Than Ever
Frederick M. Misilo, Jr.
This session will explore the importance of advocacy at the local, state, and national level within a special needs practice in the current political climate. An overview of the disability rights movement on behalf of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities over the last seventy years in the areas of housing, education, Medicaid expansion, health care, voting rights, and self-determination will be provided. The role of grass-roots advocacy by families and advocacy organizations will be highlighted. In our current political climate, the many advances in expanding community-based services and support for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are being threatened. This session will provide resources and strategies for engaging in advocacy efforts for your clients as well as for your law practice.
9:20 a.m.-10:10 a.m.
Where Child Support Meets Special Needs - A Survey of Current Law
Craig Reaves
Issues regarding child support arise when special needs beneficiaries live past the age of majority. For example: Does a non-custodial parent have a duty to pay child support? Does a SNT for the child obviate the need for support? Can a SNT be ordered to pay child support owed by the trust beneficiary? This presentation will address these and related topics and summarize the applicable state laws.
10:10 a.m.-10:25 a.m.
Break and Visit with Sponsors and Exhibitors
Sponsored by Prudent Investors
10:25 a.m.-11:15 a.m.
SSI Update
Kenneth Brown and Jennifer Burdick
A review of recent SSA policy changes and initiatives from the past year.
11:15 a.m.-12:05 p.m.
TBD
TBD
[Description coming soon]
12:05 p.m.-1:30 p.m.
Lunch
Sponsored by Key Bank
1:30 p.m.-2:20 p.m. Breakout Session 1
- Sex, Drugs, and Rock n’ Roll: Atypical Beneficiary Distribution Requests
Megan Brand, Marco Chayet, and Peter Wall
All trustees have "that" story - the discretionary distribution request that catches you and your team a bit off-guard. This session will address how and from whom such requests are made, sole benefit impact, discretionary distribution language drafting and implications, beneficiary expectation setting, and distribution funding mechanisms. Music and gig-themed trivia and fact patterns abound - as well as a case law review and interactive case studies! - Earning without Losing: Beneficiaries Who Work or Bring in Income
Elizabeth Moran
Can your client earn income without losing eligibility for SSI, SSDI, Medicaid or other vital benefits and programs? Yes! Join this session to learn about work incentives and programs, ABLE accounts, income exclusions, and practical strategies for how to advise clients on employment and other sources of income that might provide financial independence without risking critical supports. - Crowdfundung and Public Benefits
Lauren Mechaly
This session explores how funds raised through crowdfunding are treated under SSI, Medicaid, and other programs, and how to structure campaigns to minimize risk. Learn when a special needs trust or ABLE account should be involved, how to handle ownership and access to funds, and what guidance to give families seeking financial help online.
2:25 p.m.-3:15 p.m. Breakout Session 2
- Ethical Practice in Elder Law and Special Needs Law: Preventing Mistakes Before They Become Claims
Roberta Flowers
This presentation offers a practical guide to identifying and avoiding common malpractice risks in elder law and special needs practice. Attendees will learn how issues like diminished capacity, undue influence, and conflicts of interest can trigger liability—and how to proactively manage them. Real-world examples and risk-reduction strategies will equip attorneys to serve aging clients and clients with disabilities ethically and defensibly. - Can't You Decant?
Michelle Mulvena
This session explores the legal authority for decanting, state-by-state variations, and examines the potential advantages and pitfalls of modifying a trust. Learn when decanting is appropriate, how to proceed without risking eligibility, and what alternatives may offer greater security or efficiency. - Medicaid’s Right to Reimbursement and Special Needs Trusts
Bridget O'Brien Swartz
This session will discuss the requirement under federal law that a first party special needs trust provide for reimbursement to Medicaid upon termination of the trust. What on its face appears to be a straightforward matter is far from it. The implications of Medicaid’s status as a beneficiary versus creditor, distinctions among the various types of special needs trusts, for what Medicaid can seek to be reimbursed and at what rate, as well as how the right to reimbursement from a special needs trust is distinct from estate recovery will highlight the complexities of what is required under the law and the importance of understanding it as well as counseling clients about this requirement before they make a decision to enter into such an arrangement.
3:15 p.m.-3:30 p.m.
Break and Visit with Sponsors and Exhibitors
Sponsored by Prudent Investors
3:30 p.m.-4:20 p.m. Breakout Session 3
- The Unseen Burden: Navigating Special Needs Planning for Solo Ager Caregivers
Eric Einhart
This session addresses an often-overlooked challenge – solo ager caregivers. These are older adults responsible for a special needs dependent (often their own child) who lack traditional family support systems. We'll explore the compounded complexities they face as they age, managing their own long-term care, finances, and healthcare, while also planning for their loved one's continuing needs. Attendees will gain actionable strategies for holistic planning, including selecting fiduciaries, creating dual care plans, and identifying funding and resources to ensure peace of mind for both the aging caregiver and their special needs dependent. - SNT Ethics Jeopardy
Rebecca Morgan, Bryn Poland, Mary Alice Jackson, and Robert Fleming
Attorneys and trustees need to clearly understand their ethical obligations. Using the Jeopardy game show format, in this interactive session, the presenters will cover various ethical issues encountered in a special needs practice, providing the answers while the audience provides the questions. - Remote Support: What it Can—and Cannot!—Do
Janet Lowder and Jeanne Sydenstricker
In the past few years, Remote Monitoring and support has become a viable option to help with caregiving for people who need it. It uses a variety of technology to actively manage and engage each person at whatever level is needed to help keep people with disabilities safe and healthy. The benefits include greater independence; very individualized care; more freedom at home, compared to having another person with you all the time; and a much lower cost. Options range from having just a camera or computer to check in to be sure somebody got home on time to complete remote support working through routines and activities that are necessary and desirable in each daily life.
This session will discuss the basics of what Remote Monitoring and Remote Support are, some of the technologies which are most useful. It will include some of the financial benefits from the Medicaid waiver perspective, as well as briefly discuss when Remote Support may not be a good solution. Janet Lowder will discuss the legal issues related to use of remote supports, including federal and state policies which have been and are being developed, certification of providers, liability issues and Medicaid reimbursement policies.
4:25 p.m.-5:15 p.m. Breakout Session 4
- First Party SNTs and PI
Ethan Ordog
[Description coming soon] - HOT Issues in HOTMA: Trustees (and others) Beware!
Stuart Zimring and Emily Starr
This presentation explores the new income calculation and asset eligibility rules enacted by Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (HOTMA), to whom they apply, the verification requirements, and the status of implementation. We will examine the collision course between HOTMA and special needs trusts, exploring how HUD's efforts to streamline subsidized housing programs have created new compliance headaches for Special Needs Trust Trustees, drafters and disability advocates. The session will provide practical strategies for maintaining compliance, protecting client/beneficiary interests, and avoiding the pitfalls that could jeopardize both housing assistance and trust integrity in this evolving regulatory landscape. - Proposed Changes to Model Rule 1.14: How They Will Affect Practice
Charles Sabatino
Model Rule 1.14 “Client with Diminished Capacity” underwent significant changes at the recommendation of the ABA’s Ethics 2000 Commission but has remained essentially unchanged since 2002. Experience with MRPC 1.14, as well as changes in the law and changes in the understanding of the rights and abilities of people with cognitive and intellectual disabilities over the past two decades, have revealed a need for amendments to the Rule. An initiative to craft a revised Rule 1.14 has culminated in a proposed draft developed under the auspices of the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility that will likely be considered for final approval at the ABA’s February 2026 mid-year meeting. This session will review the proposed changes, their rationale, and what they will mean for your practice.
5:30 p.m. Welcome Reception