Sheri R. Abrams's Blog

Checklist: Should You Consider a Legal Guardianship for Your Child with Special Needs?

As a young adult with special needs approaches age 18, his or her parents will need to decide whether to pursue a legal Guardianship with the Virginia courts for the right to manage the child’s personal and medical affairs.

If a Guardianship is ultimately granted, the child will lose his or her personal autonomy and the ability to make independent decisions for themselves.  For the majority of adults with special needs, this is a non-issue, as they depend on their parents to oversee every aspect...

Things Change: When Should You Update Your Special Needs Trust

Nothing lasts forever. Your smiling baby becomes a child who becomes an adult. You change too. You won’t always be there for your child with special needs. You may already have a Special Needs Trust (SNT), but it’s important to continue to review your trust to ensure that it still meets the needs of your family.

All the reasons why you’d update your Special Needs Trust boil down to one thing: change. The following are reasons why you would change your Special Needs Trust and the reasons for doin...

Fairfax Virginia Social Security Office Has Moved!

The Fairfax Virginia Social Security office, which used to be located at 11212 Waples Mill Road, Fairfax, Virginia, has relocated to a new location.  The new office address is 10800 Parkridge Blvd, Suite 100, Reston, Virginia.

Under normal operation, Social Security offices are open to in-person visits weekdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Social Security has yet to announce when local offices will reopen for walk-in service.  In-person visits can be arranged, by ...

How to Put Together a Disability-Friendly Emergency Kit

Over the past year, we’ve all been confronted with our fair share of emergencies and natural disasters. In what felt like an instant last spring, life shut down due to the coronavirus. People on the west coast were displaced by some of the worst wildfires in our nation’s history. This was the first year that we ran out of English names for hurricanes and actually had a storm from the Greek alphabet hit our shores.

2020 has certainly been a reminder to all of us that life can change in an instant...

Can I Change My Child’s Special Needs Trust?

Parents often create Special Needs Trusts with lifetime care needs in mind. The resources put into the Trust are meant to last years, and in a lot of cases decades.  While parents do their best to plan for situations that may occur in the future, there will likely come a time when provisions in the Special Needs Trust need to be updated or changed altogether.

The good news is that a Special Needs Trust is a flexible document and not something that’s “set in stone.” It’s meant to evolve and grow ...

Social Security Recipients to Get 1.3% Benefit Increase in 2021

The Social Security Administration has just announced that those who receive Social Security Retirement, Social Security Disability or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) will be getting a 1.3 % benefit increase in 2021.

The 1.3% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will begin with benefits payable to Social Security Retirement and Disability beneficiaries in January 2021.  Increased payments to SSI beneficiaries will start on December 31, 2020.

Social Security and SSI beneficiaries are normally noti...

Tips for Homeschooling Your Child with Special Needs During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult for everyone, especially for children with learning disabilities and special needs. We know that many local children are struggling with school in an “online” format, while extra-curricular activities and support groups that kids may look forward to remain on hold.

Your child may be feeling isolated or frustrated with learning due to these issues that are beyond anyone’s control. As a parent, you may also be worried that your child is falling behind in sc...

How To Obtain A Guardianship During The Pandemic

I have been receiving a lot of inquiries recently asking me if the Courts are having Guardianship hearings during this pandemic. The answer is yes, with some changes to their regular procedures as indicated below.

A Guardianship is appropriate if an adult, 18 years of age or older, is unable to make decisions for himself or herself as it relates to his or her basic health, care and safety needs without the assistance or protection of another person (the guardian).

In order for a guardian to be a...

How Does Collecting Unemployment Insurance Affect Social Security Retirement, Social Security Disability, and SSI benefits?

The pandemic has caused unemployment rates to skyrocket.  Millions of people have applied or are attempting to apply for unemployment insurance.  Many are concerned on how this will impact their Social Security benefits.

Social Security Retirement:

Unemployment benefits are not counted as wages under the Social Security annual earnings test, so they won’t affect your Social Security retirement benefits.

Some states used to reduce an unemployment benefit if you collected Social Security, but that...

Can I Use an Online Template to Draft a Special Needs Trust?

I have been asked: “Can I use an online template or do-it-yourself service to create my child’s Special Needs Trust?”

A Special Needs Trust is a very complex legal tool that rarely works as a “one-size-fits-all” solution.  I’d venture to say that the majority of online templates or DIY software programs that create Special Needs Trusts are not sufficient for most families and would cause many unintended consequences.

A DIY program can’t understand the complexities of your family or your child’s ...