TOOLKIT FOR PARENTS · AGES 22+
Estate Planning Essentials: Ages 22 and Beyond
Estate planning shifts from a forward-looking exercise into an ongoing responsibility.
By the time a young adult with a disability reaches their early twenties, estate planning shifts from a forward-looking exercise into an ongoing responsibility. Many of the foundational pieces, a will, powers of attorney, a Special Needs Trust, and a guardianship or supported decision-making arrangement, are typically already in place by this stage. What matters now is making sure those pieces continue to reflect a young adult’s actual life, which by 22 often looks meaningfully different than it did when many of these documents were first drafted.
The Core Documents, as a Living Plan
A Last Will and Testament directs how assets are distributed and can direct an inheritance into a Special Needs Trust rather than to a young adult directly, protecting eligibility for benefits like Medicaid. A Revocable Living Trust manages assets during a family’s lifetime while avoiding probate and keeping financial matters private. A Durable Power of Attorney allows a trusted person to manage financial affairs on someone’s behalf, while a Health Care Power of Attorney, paired with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) authorization, allows medical decisions and access to health information when needed. A Living Will or Advance Directive documents wishes around life-sustaining treatment.
At this stage, the value of these documents depends less on whether they exist and more on whether they still match reality: whether the named decision-makers are still the right people, whether a guardianship or supported decision-making arrangement finalized years ago still fits, and whether the plan accounts for a young adult’s current living situation, employment, and level of independence rather than assumptions made when they were much younger.
Trust Funding in Practice
A Special Needs Trust is only as useful as it is properly funded and managed. By 22, many families have a much clearer picture of what a young adult’s life costs and what kind of ongoing support they’ll need, which makes this a natural point to revisit whether the trust is funded at a level that matches that reality, rather than an earlier estimate. This is also the stage where first-party trust scenarios become more common, since a young adult may have received a legal settlement, a Social Security disability back-payment, or income of their own for the first time, any of which can require assets to be redirected into a properly structured trust to protect benefit eligibility.
Trustee decisions also deserve a second look. A trustee named years ago should still have the right combination of financial competence and personal understanding of the young adult’s needs, and if a professional co-trustee was named for long-term continuity, this is a reasonable point to confirm that arrangement is still functioning as intended.
Gifting and Lifetime Support
Families continuing to support a young adult financially during their lifetime should still route those gifts carefully. Direct gifts to a young adult can affect eligibility for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Medicaid, while gifts routed into a Special Needs Trust or an Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) account avoid that risk. Paying medical or educational expenses directly to a provider remains a useful option that doesn’t count against annual gift exclusions or affect benefits.
Coordinating With the Rest of the Plan
By this stage, estate planning is closely tied to decisions covered elsewhere: the guardianship or supported decision-making arrangement in place, the young adult’s housing situation, and their connection to state adult services and benefits programs. A plan reviewed in isolation from these other pieces risks falling out of sync with how a young adult is living, which is why periodic review, not just periodic drafting, is what keeps an estate plan functional over time.
A Plan That Lives Alongside Them
By adulthood, the Letter of Intent holds years of routines, preferences, and hard-won knowledge. Download the fillable template below and keep it current as your young adult’s life keeps evolving.
Does the Estate Plan Still Match Where Your Young Adult Is Today?
A Strategy Meeting is a good place to confirm the documents, the trust funding, and the decision-makers still reflect your family’s life as it is now — not as it looked years ago.