Tips for helping families with disability planning

Estate planning is never easy. But when families are also dealing with disabilities (mental, physical or both), there are extra challenges to address.

This afternoon, an expert STEP Canada conference panel discussed several ways to help families that have special needs.

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Addressing concerns early is especially important when a client or his relative is dealing with a mental disability, or from a combination of mental and physical issues, says Peter Weissman, tax and estate planning specialist with Cadesky and Associates in Toronto, and one of the panel participants. This is because it can be harder to figure out how quickly such infirmities are evolving and what steps need to be taken regarding capacity.

Read: People have right to refuse capacity assessments, says experts