Why I Am So Passionate About Special Needs Planning

I attended my first Lawyers with Purpose Annual Practice Enhancement Retreat last week, and experienced an “aha!” moment during one of the sessions facilitated by George Ira Carroll.

In the course of working with a partner to develop “my story,” and recounting to her the perpetual disarray in my personal life over the past two decades, I noted an amazing cause and effect in the success of my Special Needs Planning practice during that same period. Although my personal life was out of control, I was excelling in my professional life advising clients whose lives were also out of control because of their children’s disabling conditions.

Many, if not most, of the consequences of a child’s disability are completely beyond the control of the families into which these children are born. Those consequences run the gamut from medical to social, and leave these families grasping for even a scintilla of control in their otherwise chaotic lives. Enter the Special Needs Planning attorney, whose heartfelt mission is to provide these families with a semblance of control in an otherwise chaotic life. As the lack of control in my own personal life increased, so too did my passion for helping families achieve control in their personal lives by developing and implementing Special Needs Plans that help secure the futures of their children with disabilities.

My clients often remark on my passion for my Special Needs Practice, and now I can identify the source of that passion!

If you're a Lawyers With Purpose Member and want to listen to my webinar "Financial Abuse of Elders & Other At-Risk Adults" on the Member Site, hover over the "LWP Process" tab and choose the "Webinars and Teleconferences" folder. Go to Page 2 and scroll all the way to the bottom. If you are not a Member and would like to listen, email Molly Hall at [email protected] and we'd be happy share!

Kristen M. Lewis, Esq., Member of the Special Needs Alliance and Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel.

Comments

[Raymond Cassar]

Kristen,

I share your passion regarding Special needs individuals. I have specialized in criminal defense for the past 30 years here in Michigan and have a great interest in helping special needs individuals that find themselves in trouble. I am interested in the Special Needs Alliance and wondering if you could tell me how to get involved.

Sincerely,

Ray Cassar
248.8550911

[Elizabeth Hilbun]

Kristen,

I think the bottom line is that we need to wake up and realize every one of the families that walk through our doors have special needs. We may not be able to "see" the need on the outside but we should strive to identify it and see what we can do to make a difference! To me the paperwork we draft is just icing on the cake.