When it comes to financial planning, many business owners understandably focus on the basics: building business value, protecting cash flows, funding retirement, preparing for succession, and securing a legacy. But in focusing on these key centers of growth, business owners often overlook one critical contingency for risk: special needs planning.
This lack of consideration stems in large part from a lack of understanding. When we hear the phrase “special needs,” we typically think of the family raising a child with a recognized developmental disorder such as autism. In reality, special needs encompass a much broader definition that may very well include your family’s circumstances, if not today then in the years to come.
Broadening the Definition of Special Needs
To understand special needs, we must first look at what the term actually means. Beyond developmental disorders, special needs include a wide range of conditions and circumstances that can impact a person at any stage in life, rendering them unable to manage money, make sound decisions, live independently, sustain employment, and/or navigate the systems that support daily life.
An individual may be born with special needs. Alternately, those needs may arise gradually through illness or mental health decline, or they may appear suddenly in the wake of an accident, trauma, or crisis. In general, special-needs circumstances can be grouped into the following main categories.
Substance Use Disorders (SUD)
SUDs can refer to alcohol use disorder, opioid use disorder, stimulant use disorder, as well as relapse and recovery. In planning for this category of special needs, business owners should consider:
How support will be funded (i.e. rehab, counseling, residential sober living, treatment).
Whether there should be any restrictions placed on assets.
Who has authority to intervene in a crisis.
Chronic and Progressive Physical Illness
This category covers conditions like multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, autoimmune disorders, Alzheimer’s, advanced cancer, diabetes, and chronic pain conditions. Special needs planning for these circumstances should account for:
How the illness and care needs may evolve over time.
Who has authority to make decisions.
How reduced earning capacity, long-term care, home adaptation, and business succession will be handled.
Mental and Psychiatric Disorders
Individuals who experience bipolar disorder, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, severe depression, PTSD, debilitating anxiety, and eating disorders may fall under this category. To plan and prepare for these special needs, consider:
What support will be needed during periods of instability.
How best to preserve the individual’s autonomy when possible.
How to structure financial access, employment, treatment, and housing.
Acquired Brain Injury and Sudden Trauma
Stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, catastrophic accidents, amputations, and sudden neurological events qualify as special needs under this category. When planning for these types of events, business owners should take into consideration:
Who has the authority to act immediately.
What happens to the business if the owner or a key family member loses capacity.
How rehabilitation, care, and future needs will be funded.
Congenital and Childhood-Onset Conditions
Perhaps the most instantly identifiable special-needs category includes intellectual and developmental disabilities, autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, hearing and visual impairment, and other genetic or neurological conditions. Planning should account for:
Who will provide advocacy and support after the primary caregivers are gone.
How housing, work, community participation, benefits, and lifetime support will be funded.
How much access to assets should the individual have and how much intervention is needed.
It’s important to note that these special-needs categories often overlap. A person with a chronic disability, for example, may also experience depression and substance use disorder. A traumatic brain injury can affect cognition, impulse control, employability, and mental health. And a congenital condition may limit an individual’s ability to work full time and live independently. These co-occurring special needs can complicate planning even further.
Millions of Families Have Special Needs
Naturally, business owners are busy running and growing their enterprises. As such, they often think of risk in business terms: losing a major customer, a cyberattack, supply-chain disruptions, the retirement of a key employee, or an economic recession. To mitigate these risks, owners buy insurance, create operating agreements, employ tax strategies, and create an exit plan.
But they often neglect to plan for special needs circumstances. The truth is, many families, including those of business owners, are impacted by special needs. Just take a look at the data.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 70 million Americans live with a functional disability.1
Among adults 18 years and older, 61.5 million people suffer from mental illness.2
Among individuals 12 years and older, 48.4 million people had a substance use disorder in 2024.2
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, between 25% and 27% of all American households include at least one person, adult or child, with a reported disability or long-term medical limitation.
The Complexities of Special Needs for Business Owners
Business owners, no matter how successful, are not immune to special-needs circumstances. In fact, special needs situations can make it even more challenging to own and run a business, especially when the business owner is actively involved in the individual’s care.
Business succession and legacy are also complicated by the fact that not every adult child has the capacity to participate in ownership or effectively manage an inheritance. For business owners, wealth, income, and family security are often intertwined with their privately held company.
As such, the financial consequences of caring for someone with special needs can be profound. A business may be a family’s largest asset, its principal source of liquidity, and the driver of the owner’s legacy. Special needs planning can help protect and preserve this asset for future generations as well as current family needs.
Why Business Owners Should Plan for Special Needs
Without appropriate planning, special-needs circumstances can derail the financial future of a business owner as well as his or her family. When special needs arise, the business owner is faced with complex and difficult decisions that have a direct impact on the business’s finances and family wealth.
Special-needs circumstances can have a significant effect on a business owner’s finances in a number of ways, both visible and nuanced. Caring for and supporting a family member with special needs may require funding for treatment, therapy, rehab, home modifications, transportation, adaptive technology, legal fees, long-term care, and more. These costs can be substantial, unpredictable, and stretch over decades.
Along with the more visible costs of special-needs circumstances are the hidden expenses, which can be just as damaging.
A business owner may need to step away from the company to coordinate care, which can impact revenue, client relationships, and leadership.
A spouse or adult child involved in running the business may need to take leave to become an unpaid caregiver.
The business owner may end up taking distributions or loans to offset the costs of care, which can weaken working capital.
Family members may disagree over whether a special-needs individual should inherit company stock, cash, or decision-making authority, resulting in conflict.
If the owner is incapacitated, there may be no effective succession mechanism in place, which can in turn delay contracts, banking, payroll, and major business decisions.
A special-needs beneficiary may become the target of fraud, coercion, predatory relationships, or financial mismanagement.
When Special Needs Planning Isn’t Prioritized
Given the very real risks that come with special-needs situations, why then do business owners fail to plan for them? There are a number of reasons for putting planning off or ignoring the issue altogether.
Privacy Concerns
For starters, special-needs circumstances are often viewed as deeply personal issues that the owner would prefer to keep within the family. At the same time, families may feel overwhelmed and thus isolated as they deal with diagnosis, treatment, caregiving, and an uncertain future.
Avoidance
Under difficult special-needs circumstances, avoidance is understandable. Yet putting off critical decisions around special needs only means the business owner and/or family will have to face them in the future, often in the midst of a crisis.
Unclear Definition
Business owners may think that their personal or family situation falls outside the definition of special needs. This speaks to a lack of understanding that special needs encompass a wide spectrum of conditions and circumstances that can have a significant impact on the business, the family, and their financial future.
Overconfidence
Business owners may overestimate the protection that wealth alone provides. Yes, money helps, but direct ownership of money can create complications. An outright inheritance, for example, may be too much responsibility for a person with special needs, and may open that individual to exploitation or create conflict among other family members. A concentrated ownership interest in a private company may add even more complexity.
The business itself can also create a false sense of confidence. The owner may assume that his or her company will fund any future special needs. The value of the business, however, is not the same as liquidity. A business that depends heavily on one owner, for instance, may be more challenging and thus slower to sell, creating a funding gap should a family emergency arise.
Complexity
Special needs planning can seem complicated and fragmented. The process may involve a CPA for tax strategy, a wealth manager for investments, an estate attorney to draft documents, an insurance specialist to address risk, a business attorney for governance, and the care team. Often, these services are provided independently with no one to ensure they’re coordinated or integrated.
Despite these challenges, business owners should absolutely consider special needs planning as a critical component of their overall business and wealth management strategy. As business owners, we can’t predict every hardship or special need that may arise. But we can prepare for circumstances before a crisis turns into a personal vulnerability that leads to financial chaos.
What Is Special Needs Planning?
In short, special needs planning involves a coordinated effort across legal, financial, benefit, care, housing, and decision-making areas. With special needs planning, a business owner is preparing for the ongoing care and wellbeing of the person who can no longer manage their money, make decisions, live independently, or sustain employment.
In addition to protecting the individual, special needs planning is about protecting the business and its value from financial turmoil. As such, the planning process should extend beyond merely establishing a trust to address a wide range of issues, including:
Who will make financial, healthcare, and personal decisions for the impacted individual?
What level of assistance, supervision, treatment, housing, and daily support is needed now and in the future?
How will the necessary care and support be funded during the business owner’s life, after the owner exits the business or retires, and after death?
Which assets should pass directly to the individual with special needs, and which should be held or managed on their behalf?
Could an inheritance, payout, or ownership impact the individual’s ability to qualify for public benefits such as Medicare?
Who will manage the trust, oversee investments, advocate for care, and protect the individual’s best interests?
What support can be provided to the individual to help them live independently, without creating financial instability?
Ideally, special needs planning preserves both the dignity and quality of life of the individual, while also protecting the business value, financial security, and wealth of the business owner and his or her family. The ultimate goal is to ensure that the person living with special needs receives the resources, support, and agency they need and deserve, while giving the business owner and family a realistic way to pay for care and preserve long-term assets.
Even wealthy families need a durable structure for managing an inheritance, preventing exploitation, funding care, establishing decision-making support, and ensuring continuity when the business owner or caregiver is no longer able to care for the individual.
Business owners have great instincts when it comes to safeguarding their companies. But the best business plans also protect the people whose lives are connected to the company. Special needs planning requires an owner to take a broader view of finances, to preserve wealth when life becomes complicated.
The good news is, as a business owner you already understand the core components. You’ve built contingencies and you recognize your vulnerabilities. You’ve created continuity plans, insured against loss, and addressed risk. Now it’s time to apply this same level of diligence to your family.
Bottom line: if you haven’t given much thought to special needs planning, or didn’t think special needs circumstances apply to you, it’s worth reevaluating your approach. In the next article in our Special Needs Planning for Business Owners series, we’ll delve into how to get started, next steps to take, and who to turn to for professional and objective guidance.
Sources
1. Disability and Health Data Now. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. April 8, 2025.
2. “SAMHSA Releases Annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health.” Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. July 28, 2025.
3. Altman, Barbara and Blackwell, Debra. “Disability in U.S. Households, 2000-2010: Findings from the National Health Interview Survey.” Health and Human Services Public Access. February 2016.
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