Special-needs planning · Costs & DIY

You don't have to pay thousands a year. You do have to get one thing right.

Special-needs planning firms charge $2,364 to $16,000 a year. Most cash-strapped families don't need most of that. This page separates the one professional you truly must pay for from everything you can do yourself — taxes, investing, benefits questions — with real prices, free substitutes, and an honest yearly floor.

Researched 14 November 2026 · Prices are US, November 2026, from official or primary sources where possible, each cited. Assumes the common case throughout: an adult child on SSI + Medicaid, an ABLE account and a third-party special needs trust (SNT), and an estate plan in place. Education, not legal or tax advice — your state's rules and your family's facts control.

The short answer

Pay once for a specialist special-needs / elder-law attorney to draft the wills, powers of attorney, and the SNT correctly. A wrong SNT — or a direct inheritance — can cost your child SSI and Medicaid. The SSI countable-resource limit is still $2,000 (unchanged since 1989); the 2026 federal SSI maximum is $994/month. That is the one error measured in lost benefits, not fees.

Almost everything recurring can be free, cheap, or occasional instead: benefits counselling is free from Social Security's WIPA program, your own tax return is safely DIY, a simple trust return can be done in TaxAct, and a low-cost index portfolio needs no 1%-a-year adviser.

$0–$50/yr

The floor — SNT is testamentary (in your wills, not yet funded), family trustee, free tax filing, free planning tools

$145–$265/yr

Floor with a funded SNT — adds a do-it-yourself Form 1041 in TaxAct Estates & Trusts (up to ~$365 if you use TurboTax Business instead)

$2,500–$5,000

One-time setup — specialist attorney: wills + powers of attorney + third-party SNT

Compare: Legs Financial ongoing planning is $7,200–$16,000 every year — and it still doesn't prepare your taxes or draft your legal documents. Details and arithmetic below.

Try it: build your own yearly cost

Move the sliders and choices to match your family. Every rate comes from the researched figures on this page — no made-up numbers. The comparison bars show what the same family would pay for the brand-name recurring products.

Money an adviser or trustee would charge a % on — portfolio + trust assets

$150,000

A 1% fee is $1,000 a year per $100,000 — every year, in up and down markets alike.

Your special needs trust

Financial planning help

Who serves as trustee?

Your own tax return (Form 1040)

Planning software

Your estimated yearly total

$23

per year, after one-time setup

Same family, other choices:

Bars are to scale. The “DIY floor” bar shows the midpoint of this page's range for your trust situation — $0–$50/yr if the SNT is testamentary, $145–$265/yr if it's funded — so your own itemised total can land anywhere inside that range. Legs and ENABLE are the firms' published prices, verified 14 Nov 2026.

Who you absolutely need — and who you don't

One professional is essential. One is essential at key moments but usually free. The rest are conditional or nice-to-have — and the recurring-fee versions are where cash-strapped families overspend.

Professional	Verdict	When it's essential	If you skip it
Special-needs / estate attorney Wills, SNT, powers of attorney, health directives, guardianship	Essential — once	Before any money can pass to your child; at 18 for guardianship or supported decision-making; whenever the plan, the law, or the family changes. Must be a specialist — general estate attorneys routinely get benefits rules wrong.	A direct bequest, a badly worded SNT, or a missing POA can disqualify your child from SSI/Medicaid, trigger a Medicaid payback, or leave no one legally able to act. DIY will/trust kits are not a safe substitute here.
Benefits advisor / counsellor SSI, Medicaid, DAC (Disabled Adult Child benefits)	Essential — usually free	At 18 (adult SSI redetermination); when a parent retires, becomes disabled, or dies (that's when DAC triggers); when your child works; when SSI stops because DAC starts — Medicaid protection under §1634(c) must be claimed and monitored, and isn't always automatic.	Missed DAC can mean never claiming 50% of a living parent's benefit (75% after a parent's death) plus Medicare after 24 months. A wrong SNT distribution — e.g. cash for food or shelter — can reduce SSI.
CPA / tax preparer	Conditional	When a funded non-grantor SNT files Form 1041 with capital gains, rental or business income, multi-state filing, or large retained income — or when your own return is complex. Not needed for a plain W-2/1099 return or an unfunded testamentary SNT.	A wrong 1041 can mean tax at 37% on income over $16,000 that could have been taxed at your child's lower rate, missed K-1s, penalties — or a distribution made for tax reasons that harms benefits.
Financial planner Fee-only, flat-fee, hourly, or % of assets	Nice-to-have	Helpful once, as a check-up, for a complex family — business, rental property, large retirement accounts, Roth-conversion / timing questions. Not needed annually for a modest, simple portfolio.	Nothing catastrophic, if you follow a simple written plan. The risk is slow drift: no rebalancing, missed Roth-conversion windows, poor Social Security claiming timing.
Professional trustee / trust company	Nice-to-have	Essential only if no suitable family trustee or successor exists, the trust is large or complex, or family conflict is likely. Note: many corporate trustees require $250,000–$1M minimums — a modest trust may not even qualify.	Family-trustee risks are burnout, no successor, benefits mistakes, poor records. Mitigate with a named successor, a trust protector, a written investment policy — and a pooled trust named as backup.
Pooled SNT (nonprofit trustee)	Cheaper substitute	When you want professional administration without drafting a standalone trust or meeting a bank minimum. You join a nonprofit master trust by joinder agreement.	Trade-offs: less control, annual fees of 1–2.5% can erode a small account, and first-party pooled trusts carry a Medicaid payback on what's left.
Others commonly sold Insurance agents, care managers, ABLE/529 salespeople	Mostly optional	Term life insurance to fund the SNT is often genuinely needed — buy term, not whole-life-as-investment.	Commission-paid sellers may recommend products that serve the seller. Fee-only, no-commission advice removes that conflict.

Why the attorney + benefits check can't be skipped: SSI is needs-based with a $2,000 countable-resource limit, and in many states any SSI brings Medicaid automatically. DAC is not means-tested — disability before age 22, on a retired, disabled, or deceased parent's record — but families report having to ask Social Security about it specifically. Source: SSA, Benefits for Children With Disabilities (EN-05-10026).

The brand-name planners, priced exactly

These are the firms families ask about. Both were verified live on 14 November 2026 — and note what neither one does: neither prepares tax returns nor drafts legal documents, so the attorney and any CPA are still on top.

Legs Financial

Fee-only, flat-fee fiduciary. Fee set by complexity, not portfolio size; fixed for two years; billed quarterly in advance; 12-month expectation, cancellable on 30 days' notice. In the firm's own words: “We do not prepare tax returns or draft legal documents.”

Tier	Per year	Quarterly
The Ascent (Foundation) — fewer moving parts	$7,200	$1,800
The Summit (Comprehensive) — deeper tax analysis	$10,800	$2,700
The Expedition (Specialized) — includes SNTs, businesses, multi-generational plans	$16,000	$4,000

One-time alternative — a Financial Map: $3,600 / $4,800 / $6,000 by tier (up to 20% credited toward the first quarter if you upgrade within 90 days). The firm's March 2026 Form ADV likewise states $7,200–$16,000/year.

Source: legsfinancial.com/how-we-work#fees, verified live 14 Nov 2026.

ENABLE Special Needs Planning

A planning system / coaching product across vision, life, financial, legal, and benefits plans — not a law firm or CPA. It does not draft the SNT or file the trust return; legal documents are referred out.

5-Step Planning System, year 1	$197/mo × 12 = $2,364
After year 1 (auto-renews)	$30/mo = $360/yr
What year 2+ includes	Vision + Life Plan only
Vision Plan / Life Plan separately	$3/mo / $27/mo

One-year subscription required; cancel any time after the first year. After year 1, the Resource, Financial, and Legal plans become à la carte.

Source: enablesnp.com/subscriptions, verified live 14 Nov 2026.

What a year of help costs — cheapest floor to most expensive product

Bars use a log scale — a plain linear scale would make the DIY floor invisible next to $16,000. The dollar labels are the real figures; ranges are shown at their midpoint.

DIY floor — testamentary SNT

≈ $0–$50/yr

DIY floor — funded SNT, you file the 1041

≈ $145–$265/yr

ENABLE — after year 1

$360/yr

Funded SNT with a CPA doing the 1041

≈ $600–$1,550/yr

ENABLE — year 1

$2,364

1% adviser on a $250,000 portfolio

$2,500/yr

Legs Financial — The Ascent

$7,200/yr

Legs Financial — The Expedition (SNT tier)

$16,000/yr

Every cost, in one table

One-time setup separated from recurring yearly costs — because mixing them is how “thousands a year” happens.

Item	One-time	Recurring / year
Specialist attorney — full plan + third-party SNT	$2,500–$5,000 typical (full range $2,000–$7,000; first-party SNT $7,000–$15,000+). Hourly $250–$600 if not flat-fee.	$0 — review every 3–5 years or after a major life event
Guardianship, if needed at 18	$1,500–$4,000 uncontested + ~$200 filing + evaluations; contested $10,000+	$0–$500 (accounting, if the court requires it)
Legs Financial — ongoing	—	$7,200 / $10,800 / $16,000 by tier
Legs Financial — Financial Map	$3,600 / $4,800 / $6,000	—
ENABLE 5-Step System	—	$2,364 in year 1, then $360
Adviser charging % of assets (AUM)	—	0.5%–1.25% typical — $1,000/yr per $100,000 at 1%
Flat-fee / hourly planner	One-time plan $1,500–$5,000	Retainer $3,000–$10,000; or $250–$300/hr as needed (Garrett Planning Network)
Professional trustee	—	Commonly 0.8%–1.5% of assets (some quote up to 2%) — $4,000–$7,500/yr on $500,000, plus possible minimums
Pooled trust	$500–$1,500 enrolment	1%–2.5% of the sub-account
CPA — your Form 1040	—	~$280 average basic return; common band $400–$599
CPA — trust Form 1041	—	~$600–$1,500 simple; up to ~$3,500+ complex (no current authoritative survey — see “Couldn't verify”)
DIY tax software	—	$0–$215 (next section)
ABLE account	$0–$25 to open	$0–$30 maintenance + fund expenses inside the account

The small-trust warning: trustee fee (1%) + tax prep + investment fees can total 1%–3% of assets a year — $2,000–$3,000 a year on a $100,000 trust, before the beneficiary sees a dollar. That stack, not any single fee, is what quietly drains a modest trust.

Sources: specialneedfinances.com SNT guide · LegalClarity — SNT costs · Phinney Estate Law fee schedule · Truthifi — fee-only adviser fees (Kitces 2024) · Experian — hiring an adviser / Garrett rates

Taxes: yes, you can do your own — with one big exception

Short answer: yes for your own return, almost nothing to do for the ABLE account, cautiously yes for a simple trust return — and free VITA help will never do the trust return at all. TaxAct is a genuinely good pick here, and here's exactly why.

DIY — confidently

Your own return (Form 1040)

W-2s, Social Security, pensions, 1099s, and a K-1 you receive from a trust are core consumer-software territory.

Free: IRS Free File — guided software at $0 if AGI is $89,000 or less (2026 filing season); Free File Fillable Forms has no income limit.
Cheap: FreeTaxUSA $0 federal + ~$16 state; TaxAct Deluxe ~$60 federal + $45 state.
List-price route: TurboTax Deluxe $79 federal, Premium $139, state $39–$64 extra. Prices move through the season — check at checkout.
SSI itself is not taxable income; SSDI can be partly taxable — the software's Social Security worksheet handles it. Never omit a 1099-SSA.

Almost no tax work

The ABLE account

Earnings grow tax-free; withdrawals for qualified disability expenses are tax-free.

You'll get Form 1099-QA (distributions) and Form 5498-QA (contributions) — neither is filed with your return. Keep them, plus receipts, in your records.
Only if withdrawals exceed qualified expenses is the earnings portion taxable, plus a 10% additional tax, on Form 5329 — the one ABLE case consumer software handles.
2026 limit: $20,000/year from all sources — no longer the same as the $19,000 gift-tax exclusion, after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act changed the inflation base year. Disability onset before age 46 from 1 Jan 2026. First $100,000 disregarded for SSI.

Source: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 §3.34; ABLE National Resource Center.

DIY — cautiously

The trust's Form 1041

First question: does it even file?

Grantor trust (e.g. a revocable trust while you live, or a testamentary SNT not yet funded): the IRS disregards it — income goes on your own 1040, generally no 1041, $0. A testamentary SNT usually costs nothing in trust filings until the second parent dies and it is funded.
Non-grantor (irrevocable, funded) trust: a separate taxpayer. Files Form 1041 if it has any taxable income, $600+ of gross income, or a nonresident-alien beneficiary. It needs its own EIN.
Income distributed is taxed to the beneficiary (Schedule K-1); income retained is taxed to the trust — capped by distributable net income (DNI). The 65-day rule lets you treat early-January/February distributions as prior-year — useful and easily missed.

The compressed-bracket trap — why “just leave the income in the trust” is usually the most expensive choice. For 2026 a trust hits the top 37% rate at just $16,000 of taxable income (10% to $3,300 · 24% to $11,700 · 35% to $16,000 · 37% above, plus 3.8% net investment income tax above $16,000). A single person doesn't hit 37% until roughly $626,000+. Distributing income to a beneficiary in a low bracket usually saves real tax — but for an SNT, distributions must stay benefits-safe: cash, or paying for food/shelter, can reduce SSI. Tax savings must never override benefits rules. That exact tension is when a CPA who understands SNTs earns their fee. Source: Rev. Proc. 2025-32, via LegalClarity's trust-tax summary.

Software	Does Form 1041?	Price found (2025 tax year)	Limits to know
TaxAct Estates & Trusts	Yes — dedicated 1041 product, e-file, generates K-1s	$144.99 download / $149.99 online, + $59.99–$69.99 per state	State editions for ~28 states in the download version — check your state before buying
TurboTax Business	Yes — the only TurboTax product that does a 1041	~$169–$194 federal, + ~$49 state	Windows desktop only — no online or Mac version, and it cannot do your personal 1040, so you'd need a second product too
H&R Block (consumer)	Could not verify any consumer 1041 product	—	Don't assume it exists — the consumer line is built around the 1040. See “Couldn't verify” below.

Sources: TaxAct Estates & Trusts · The College Investor — tax software for estates & trusts.

What the software does well — and doesn't

Well: entering 1099-INT/DIV/B, computing the distribution deduction and DNI mechanically, generating K-1s, e-filing a straightforward trust with only interest, dividends, and capital gains.

Poorly or not at all: it won't tell you whether to distribute or retain income; won't warn that a distribution may cut SSI; won't make grantor-trust determinations or §663(b) elections for you; struggles with rental/business income, depreciation, multi-beneficiary or charitable provisions, and state fiduciary returns in unsupported states.

When you genuinely need a CPA

The first 1041 after the trust is funded or after a parent's death
Capital gains, rental, or business income — anything beyond plain securities
Retained income approaching the $16,000 / 37% cliff
Any distribution decision where saving tax conflicts with SSI/Medicaid
A required state fiduciary return your software doesn't support
You're unsure whether the trust is grantor or non-grantor

The sensible middle path: pay a CPA for the first 1041 ($600–$1,500), then copy that pattern yourself in TaxAct in later, quiet years — only while the trust stays simple.

Free tax help has a hard limit. IRS VITA/TCE sites are free and genuinely good for your own return — VITA generally serves people earning $69,000 or less, plus people with disabilities and limited-English taxpayers regardless of income; TCE serves those 60+. But their scope is Form 1040/1040-SR only: Form 1041 is out of scope — a VITA site cannot prepare the trust return. (It can prepare your 1040, including a K-1 you receive.) Low-Income Taxpayer Clinics help with IRS disputes, not routine 1041 prep. Sources: IRS Pub 4555-E / Pub 4012 scope chart.

Investing: yes — books and software can replace the adviser

For a modest portfolio, the adviser's job — pick a sensible mix, keep costs tiny, rebalance, don't panic — is a learnable routine, not a yearly subscription. What no robo or book can do is apply SNT distribution rules; that judgement stays with the trustee.

Start with these books

The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing — Larimore, Lindauer & LeBoeuf

The practical DIY playbook: asset allocation, the three-fund index portfolio, tax-efficient placement, rebalancing. Free companion wiki: bogleheads.org/wiki/Getting_started.

The Little Book of Common Sense Investing — John C. Bogle

The short case for owning the whole market at minimal cost — the “why” behind the three-fund approach.

Managing a Special Needs Trust: A Guide for Trustees (2020 ed.)

The trustee's handbook: distributions that preserve benefits, record-keeping, accounting, fiduciary duties.

Special Needs Alliance — Trustee Handbook (free)

The best first read for a new trustee, and it's free: specialneedsalliance.org.

The Special Needs Planning Guide — Harry S. Margolis (free PDF)

Plain-language overview of the whole planning picture: free PDF.

Also worth it

The Simple Path to Wealth (JL Collins) · A Random Walk Down Wall Street (Malkiel) · The Psychology of Money (Housel — behaviour is the main reason DIY fails: panic-selling, not fund choice). Planning for the Future (Russell & Grant) is the classic special-needs walk-through, but it's from 2006 — pre-ABLE-age-46 and pre-current limits; use it for framework, not numbers.

Tools, with real prices

Tool	Cost	What it does — and its limit for this family
Boldin (formerly NewRetirement) — Basic	$0	Personalised retirement plan, what-if scenarios, 100+ inputs
Boldin PlannerPlus	$168/yr	Monte Carlo, Roth-conversion explorer, lifetime tax projections, Social Security explorer, IRMAA planning. Does not model SNT/benefits rules — it's a retirement planner. (Was $144 until 15 Oct 2026.)
Boldin Advisors check-up	$3,200 flat	One-time CFP check-up — the cheapest professional second opinion in this research
ProjectionLab	Free tier; $129/yr Premium	Strong DIY alternative to Boldin for tax modelling
Empower dashboard	$0 tools	Account aggregation, retirement planner, fee analyser. The free tools are a funnel for its advisory service (from 0.89% of assets) — expect sales calls
Fidelity / Vanguard / Schwab planners + brokerage	$0	Goal planners and calculators free with an account; $0 commissions; broad index funds at ~0.03%–0.15% expense ratios
Vanguard Digital Advisor (robo)	~0.20%/yr	Cheapest robo from a major index manager; minimum $100
Fidelity Go (robo)	$0 under $25k; 0.35%/yr above	Automatic investing and rebalancing; no human advice at the free tier
Schwab Intelligent Portfolios (robo)	$0 advisory fee	Minimum $5,000 — but a 6%–30% cash allocation swept to Schwab Bank is the real cost (cash drag)
Betterment / Wealthfront (robos)	0.25%/yr	Solid automation. Neither understands SNT distribution rules — they manage the money, not the benefits

Sources: boldin.com/retirement/pricing (verified 14 Nov 2026) · robo-adviser roundups cited in the research notes.

A family trustee's legal duty: prudent investor

The Uniform Prudent Investor Act (adopted in 45+ states) judges you on the whole portfolio, not each holding. In plain terms, a trustee must:

Use reasonable care, skill, and caution; act solely in the beneficiaries' interest
Diversify, unless the trust's purposes are genuinely better served without it
Weigh risk/return, liquidity, tax consequences, and the beneficiary's special circumstances
Incur only reasonable costs — a written reason is needed for fees above ~0.20% all-in

The practical routine: a one-page Investment Policy Statement (goal, time horizon, target stock/bond mix, rebalancing rule); 2–4 diversified low-cost index funds; 1–2 years of expected distributions in cash or short-term bonds so you never sell in a downturn; document decisions and review yearly. Never individual stocks, crypto, or speculative products with trust money. Delegating the investment function to a 0.20% robo while the family keeps distribution decisions is allowed under the Act (with careful selection and monitoring) — and it documents prudence.

When DIY investing becomes risky

Trust over ~$250,000 and no investment experience
Concentrated holdings — employer stock, a house, a business — needing a diversification plan
Short life expectancy or large near-term care costs (the wrong risk level hurts fast)
A trustee who knows they can't stay the course in a market fall
Any hint of family conflict or a future challenge to the trustee — then a paper trail, or a professional, protects everyone

The middle path most families land on: family trustee + three-fund index portfolio (or a target-date fund) + free broker tools + one hourly planner session every 2–3 years to sanity-check it.

Free help that actually exists

Free resources are excellent for learning, benefits counselling, and school advocacy — and sometimes for simple documents. None of them will draft a bespoke third-party SNT or prepare a 1041. The money-saving move is to arrive at the attorney or CPA informed, with a short specific scope — that's what keeps the paid bill at the low end.

Resource	What you get free	Limits
ABLE National Resource Center	State-by-state ABLE plan comparison (fees, investments, tax deductions), eligibility and contribution rules, webinars	Information only — no accounts opened, no personal advice, no SNT/tax help
The Arc — Center for Future Planning	Plain-language guides on ABLE, SNTs, benefits, housing, employment; free “Build Your Plan” tool; family handbook	Education, not legal/tax advice; local chapters vary in hands-on help
Social Security WIPA / Ticket to Work — helpline 1-866-968-7842	Free benefits counselling by certified coordinators (CWICs): how work affects SSI/SSDI, Trial Work Period, Medicaid buy-in, PASS plans, a written Benefits Summary & Analysis	Only for current SSDI/SSI beneficiaries (and some youth 14–25); work-focused — not estate planning, SNT drafting, or DAC claiming strategy
Social Security itself — 1-800-772-1213	Free booklets, online claiming, my Social Security statements, DAC/SSI applications	No personal planning advice; answers vary by representative — ask about DAC by name
Parent Training & Information Centers (PTIs)	IDEA-funded, at least one in every state: free training and one-to-one help with IEPs, IDEA/§504 rights, transition to adulthood (birth–26)	Education advocacy only — not lawyers, no estate documents, focused on school-age/transition rather than adult benefits or trusts
Legal Aid (LSC) / LawHelp.org	132 funded organisations, every state: free civil legal help for income-eligible people — often wills, POAs, guardianship, benefits appeals	Income-eligible only; waitlists vary; complex SNT drafting is not guaranteed — many offices do simple documents and refer SNTs out. Ask specifically.
Law-school clinics	Free, faculty-supervised help; some draft simple estate documents; Low-Income Taxpayer Clinics handle IRS disputes	Term-time and local; narrow scope; a specialist SNT is often beyond a student clinic
Special Needs Alliance	Free Trustee Handbook; directory of specialist attorneys — membership signals expertise	Directory/referral only; it doesn't do the legal work
Protection & Advocacy agencies (every state)	Free legal advocacy on disability rights, benefits denials, guardianship alternatives	Rights/benefits advocacy, not estate-plan drafting
National Disability Institute / Foundation for Financial Planning	Free webinars, financial coaching, pro-bono CFP sessions	One-off sessions, not ongoing management; availability varies

Online support groups: yes — other families are the cheapest teachers

You asked about this directly, so it gets its own section. There is no single big “special-needs finance” forum — instead, peer help lives in a few distinct places, each good at a different job. All of them are free. (This section was checked separately on 14 Nov 2026; the rest of this page comes from the cost research of the same date.)

Best for investing questions

Bogleheads — forum & wiki

A large, free, volunteer-run community built around low-cost index investing. Its forum has real, detailed threads from family trustees of special needs trusts — asset allocation for an SNT, what to do when an ABLE approaches the $100,000 SSI threshold, how other families split inheritances fairly between siblings. Post your own portfolio using their template and experienced members will critique it free.

Start: bogleheads.org/wiki/Getting_started · Example thread: “Trust Asset Allocation and Drawdown Strategy” — an SNT trustee's plan, worked through by peers.

Good at: investing mechanics, fees, rebalancing. Not: benefits law — members will (rightly) tell you to see a specialist attorney for the trust itself.

Best for “has anyone else…?”

Reddit — parent communities

Active parent-run subreddits include r/specialneedsparenting and r/SpecialNeedsChildren (all disabilities), plus diagnosis-specific ones like r/Autism_Parenting. Finance threads — ABLE vs. SNT, the $2,000 limit, life insurance, saving vs. living now — come up regularly and draw detailed answers from parents who've done it.

Good at: lived experience, state-specific quirks, emotional support at 2 a.m. Watch for: confident but wrong benefits details — rules differ by state and year, so verify anything load-bearing against SSA or ABLE NRC before acting.

Best for one-to-one

Parent to Parent & Parent Centers

Not a forum — a match. Parent to Parent programs pair you with a trained parent volunteer who has raised a child with a similar disability; services are free and confidential. Your state's Parent Training & Information Center (find yours) can point you to local and online groups, including virtual meetings — the fastest route to a group in your state, where Medicaid and waiver rules actually match yours.

Good at: a real human, local knowledge, transition-to-adulthood navigation. Limits: peer support, not professional advice — matches focus more on school, services, and daily life than on investing.

Use with care

Facebook groups

Large private groups exist for parents and caregivers of special-needs adults, covering SSI, Medicaid, guardianship, ABLE accounts, and HCBS waivers — searchable on Facebook under terms like “special needs adult caregiving” and “special needs financial planning.” The archives alone can answer common questions.

The catch: many finance-flavoured groups are run by planning firms as marketing funnels — the “free community” is the top of a sales pipeline for the very $2,364–$16,000 products priced on this page. Enjoy the peer answers; be wary of anyone who DMs you an offer, sells courses in the group, or is the only voice recommending a paid program.

Ground rules for every peer group: (1) Peer advice is experience, not professional advice — never change a benefits, tax, or trust decision on a forum post alone; verify with SSA, ABLE NRC, your attorney, or a CPA. (2) Never post your child's full name, benefit amounts with identifying details, or account information. (3) Check the date — ABLE limits and SSI figures changed in 2026, and old threads state old numbers as fact. (4) The best groups will tell you when a question needs a professional; a group that answers everything confidently is a red flag.

The bottom line: minimum yearly budgets

Assuming the estate plan, ABLE, and SNT already exist, parents are living, a family member serves as trustee, and the portfolio is modest.

A. SNT is testamentary — not yet funded

The common case while both parents live — and the cheapest honest floor, because a testamentary SNT files no 1041 and pays no trustee fee until funded.

ABLE maintenance ($0–$30 by state) + fund expenses inside the account	$0–$30
Your own return — Free File ($0) or FreeTaxUSA (~$16)	$0–$16
Planning software — free tiers	$0
Family trustee, self-managed index funds	$0
Floor total	≈ $0–$50/yr

Prefer paid software for your 1040 (TurboTax Deluxe + state) and Boldin PlannerPlus ($168)? The “comfortable DIY” version is ≈ $250–$300/yr — still two orders of magnitude below Legs.

B. SNT is funded & files Form 1041

Add the trust return — the only unavoidable new recurring cost.

Floor from A	$0–$50
1041 DIY — TaxAct Estates & Trusts, federal + state	$145–$215
Floor total (DIY 1041)	≈ $145–$265/yr
Allow up to ~$365 total if you use TurboTax Business (~$218) instead of TaxAct. With a CPA preparing the 1041 instead ($600–$1,500, on top of the $0–$50 floor): ≈ $600–$1,550/yr.

C. One-time setup, from scratch

Core: wills + POAs + third-party SNT	$2,500–$5,000
With guardianship added	$4,000–$9,000
First-party SNT instead	$7,000–$15,000+
Low-cost alternative: pooled trust enrolment	$500–$1,500 (+ 1–2.5%/yr)

What you're skipping at the floor — and the honest risk

Skipped	Saved / year	Risk — and how to soften it
Ongoing planner (Legs / ENABLE)	$2,364–$16,000	No one monitors the plan or times Roth/RMD/claiming decisions. Soften: annual self-review with a written checklist; one hourly session every 2–3 years ($500–$900).
1% AUM adviser	$1,000 per $100k	No professional rebalancing or behaviour coach. Soften: target-date or three-fund portfolio; a 0.20% robo if you want automatic rebalancing.
Professional trustee	$800–$1,500 per $100k	Successor risk, burnout, benefits mistakes. Soften: named successor + trust protector, the free SNA Trustee Handbook, a pooled trust named as backup.
CPA for the 1041 (vs. DIY in TaxAct)	~$385–$1,355	Wrong distribute/retain call; missed 65-day election; state-return gap. Soften: CPA for the first 1041, DIY only while the trust stays simple.
Annual attorney review	~$500–$1,500	Law changes (like the 2026 ABLE age-46 and $20,000-limit changes) go unnoticed. Soften: review at every major life event and at least every 5 years; follow ABLE NRC / Arc updates.

The one saving this page does not recommend: skipping the specialist attorney at setup. Every recurring fee here can be replaced by disciplined DIY — a defective SNT cannot be fixed cheaply after a parent dies, and its cost is measured in lost SSI and Medicaid, not in fees.

What couldn't be verified — said plainly

No current authoritative CPA fee survey exists. The National Society of Accountants stopped surveying after 2020–21 (average 1041 then: $576, ≈$745 in 2026 dollars). The $600–$1,500 / up-to-$3,500 figures are current guides' estimates — treat them as approximate.
H&R Block and Form 1041: no consumer H&R Block 1041 product was found, and whether its in-person services prepare 1041s (or at what price) could not be verified. Don't tell families “H&R Block does 1041s.”
Private benefits consultants have no standard published fee schedule — one SSDI-filing firm quoted $100/hr and a $695 flat filing fee, which is not a benchmark for planning advice.
Tax-software prices move through the season and by channel; figures here are for tax-year 2025 returns filed in 2026. Tax-year 2026 prices weren't yet published at research date.
ABLE $20,000: correct per Rev. Proc. 2025-32 — but many secondary sources (and older IRS pages) still show $19,000. Cite the Revenue Procedure, not a blog.
Guardianship and court fees vary sharply by state (e.g. $35 filing in Utah vs. $200 in New Jersey) — ranges here are examples, not a national schedule. Supported decision-making may avoid guardianship entirely in some states; that's a question for your attorney.
Empower's advisory minimum is reported as both $100,000 and $250,000 on different pages; its “from 0.89%” fee is second-hand. Neither affects the DIY floor.