Families who set up a special needs trust often assume the job is finished. But the rules that govern these trusts, and the benefits they protect, have shifted over the past two years.
A Bigger Door to ABLE Accounts
ABLE accounts let a person with a disability save money without losing access to benefits like SSI and Medicaid. For years, though, you could only open one if your disability began before age 26. That left out millions of people whose conditions appeared later in life.
That changed on January 1, 2026. Under the ABLE Age Adjustment Act, eligibility now reaches anyone whose disability began before age 46. The shift opens the door to an estimated six million more Americans, including roughly a million veterans.
The ABLE National Resource Center confirms the new age-46 threshold, along with the Social Security disability standard a person still has to meet to qualify.
Why This Matters for Trust Planning
ABLE accounts and special needs trusts work best as a pair. The trust holds larger, long-term assets, while the ABLE account gives the person day-to-day spending they control themselves. A trustee can even move money from the trust into the ABLE account, and the first $100,000 in that account does not count against SSI’s $2,000 asset limit.
If your trust was written before ABLE accounts existed, or before this expansion, it may not give your trustee clear authority to fund one. That is usually a simple fix, and worth raising with your attorney.
Is It Time to Review Your Trust?
Not every change means your documents need updating. Some affect how a trustee operates day to day, not what the trust actually says. But an older trust, drafted before these updates, may carry rigid language that no longer fits the current rules. A special needs planning lawyer can tell you which parts call for a formal amendment and which just require briefing your trustee on what has changed, then help you keep the trust, any ABLE account, and the underlying benefits coordinated as the law continues to shift.
The core need has not changed. A special needs trust still protects the assets and the benefits your loved one depends on. What has changed is how much these trusts can do, and who can now pair one with an ABLE account.
If it has been a few years since anyone looked closely at your plan, consider a review with an attorney who works in this area and can confirm it reflects where the law stands today. Estate Planning Pros guides families through this kind of planning, revisiting each plan as benefit rules and family circumstances change so nothing quietly falls out of date.