Latest & Greatest – Special Needs Trusts: Protect Your Child’s Financial Future

By Kevin Urbatsch & Michele Fuller-Urbatsch

Published by Nolo

KF 480 .Z9 E45 2017

Parents of children with special needs understand that their loved ones require not only special care but also special planning. In most, if not in all, cases, individuals with special needs receive benefits under governmental programs, such as Supplemental Security Income and Medicaid. However, unless arrangements are made, any funds the child will receive by way of inheritance will affect the provision of any governmental benefits. Special needs trusts (SNT) are a legal mechanism that permits the leaving of money to a loved one without jeopardizing the receipt of governmental benefits. If you are unfamiliar with SNTs or are unsure of how to establish one, have a look at Nolo’s Special Needs Trusts: Protect Your Child’s Financial Future. This book explains the nuts and bolts of how SNTs work and who can benefit from them. It also addresses how the trust funds can and cannot be used, how to create and draft the SNT, and how to and finalize and fund the trust. Of course, you also need to determine who will administer the trust and act as trustee. For this important topic, the authors use two chapters to explain how to choose a trustee and what the duties of that trustee will be. Other topics of interest include ABLE accounts, pooled trusts, and letters of intent. 

If you or someone you know has a loved one with disabilities, be sure to read Nolo’s Special Needs Trusts: Protect Your Child’s Financial Future. It could allow you to rest easy knowing that your child or loved one will be provided for when you are no longer here. You can find it in the Law Library’s Self-Help Collection.

Also, the Law Library has developed a Special Needs Legal Resource Guide with a listing of self-help resources, in-depth legal research materials, and resources available from the Texas State Law Library, the government, and Houston Bar Association.

Happy National Space Day

As the public law library for Space City, we’ve taken a special interest in space law. And there are plenty of interesting things in Texas law about space, including the Texas Administrative Code provision pictured here on procedures for astronauts to vote from outer space! Celebrate National Space Day by taking a look at the Harris County Law Library’s accumulated knowledge of space law via the links below:

Space Laws

  • The Outer Space Treaty, the multilateral agreement that established the governance of state activities in the exploration and use of outer space, was signed by more than 100 countries. It was first proposed by the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in August of 1966, making this the 50th anniversary of its conception.

Space Law Collection

Further Reading

Landlord Tenant Information

This blog post was originally published on May 2, 2019, and was last updated on May 3, 2024.

“I have tried to express the terrible passions of humanity by means of red and green. The room is blood red and dark yellow with a green billiard table in the middle; there are four lemon-yellow lamps with a glow of orange and green. Everywhere there is a clash and contrast of the most alien reds and greens, in the figures of little sleeping hooligans, in the empty dreary room, in violet and blue. The blood-red and the yellow-green of the billiard table, for instance, contrast with the soft tender Louis XV green of the counter, on which there is a rose nosegay. The white clothes of the landlord, watchful in a corner of that furnace, turn lemon-yellow, or pale luminous green.” Vincent Van Gogh in a letter to his brother Theo, September 8, 1888.

Some of the most frequent questions our reference librarians field here at the Harris County Hainsworth Law Library are about landlord/tenant disputes. Renters can face challenging situations made even more murky by a cacophony of unreliable information available on the Internet regarding their rights and responsibilities.

Every day, we encourage our patrons to utilize TexasLawHelp.org, an exceptional resource on Texas law for self-represented litigants, including tenants. Material available on the website covers a wide variety of topics and comes from excellent, trustworthy partners across the state. One such partner is Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, which has provided TexasLawHelp.org with a wealth of information, including about landlord/tenant issues. Anyone interested in learning more about tenant rights and responsibilities should check out these informative and easy to understand guides, some in English and some in Spanish, prepared by the folks at TRLA and presented by TexasLawHelp.org:

Law Day 2019 - Free Speech, Free Press, Free Society

Today, we celebrate the rule of law.

Today is Law Day. Law Day was established by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1958 and subsequently codified by Congress in 1961 (see 36 U.S.C. §113) as a day for celebration of the rule of law. Each year, the American Bar Association establishes a theme to help focus our attention on an area of law that is timely and pertinent. This year, the theme is “Free Speech, Free Press, Free Society.”

Free Speech: A view from the bench

To honor this year’s theme, the Harris County Law Library has created an online exhibit entitled Free Speech: A view from the bench. Visit the exhibit to learn about different factors judges take into account when reviewing issues concerning freedom of speech under the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Houston Bar Association Law Week Poster Contest

Each year the Houston Bar Association holds a poster contest and encourages area K-12 students to express the meaning of Law Day artistically. The Harris County Law Library is proud to partner with the HBA to display award-winning entries throughout this week-long celebration of the rule of law.