Financial planning for kids with disabilities | Investment Executive (2025)

My 14-year-old son, Luca, will never graduate from university, work a job or start a family. About 12 years ago, he was diagnosed with autism at the lower functionality end of the spectrum. Life-altering news like this can be overwhelming at first, with a tremendous impact on your family’s daily life and financials.

April is Autism Acceptance Month. I want to share my personal and professional experience to raise awareness, and acknowledge the invaluable role financial advisors can and should play in supporting their clients — including parents like me.

Parents of a child with a disability face a variety of routine challenges, every day. There are financial impacts that ripple through daily expenses, long-term planning and estate planning. Even for a seasoned financial professional, it has been a lot to digest.

This is where a financial advisor can make a difference.

Having an advisor who genuinely empathizes with their clients, listens and offers a shoulder to lean on for sound financial advice — while also understanding the mental burden and emotional toll — is invaluable.

In my case, our advisor not only helped us chart a financial course to address the immediate, mid- and long-term needs to support our son, but also ensured I was aware of the Ontario Autism Program and other government initiatives. He leveraged his network and connected us with non-profit organizations like Autism Canada and Easter Seals Canada, for additional support.

Although each family’s situation varies, the financial planning impacts are usually felt across three main areas:

1. The immediate timeframe and impact on disposable income.
2. The family’s overall financial planning.
3. Estate planning.

Advisors who develop a game plan to tackle these three elements make a huge difference in helping parents navigate this life-long journey.

Everything costs more

As you can imagine, raising a child with a disability means your disposable income is constantly strained. Simple things like gymnastics lessons or a summer camp become more complicated and expensive because my son needs one-on-one support.

Home alterations to protect his safety, special medical and educational equipment — everything costs more. My advisor helped me manage this through budgeting, understanding our income and spending, and figuring out how to adjust to those increased costs while leveraging government programs and tax credits where we could.

Next came a detailed review of our family’s financial plan — and that was a rude awakening.

In retrospect, I appreciate my advisor’s honesty and kindness. The reality that my husband and I wouldn’t be sailing into the sunset upon retirement was clear very early on. Rewriting our financial plan was critical not only for the future financial well-being of our son, but also for the financial security of our entire family.

Making planning decisions as early as possible is crucial, including leveraging financial vehicles such as the registered disability savings plan, and planning for more challenging times ahead. Available government support changes drastically, and not for the better, when a child with a disability becomes an adult.

The third element is, of course, estate planning to ensure our son is taken care of long after we are gone. The estate plan must address the needs of both my children: one with disabilities and one without. For my son with autism, we have set up a Henson Trust to protect the assets we leave him from any future government clawback of benefits. This interaction between government benefits and estate planning is something all advisors need to be more knowledgeable about.

When designing an estate plan to protect the financial future of a child with a disability, another consideration is determining guardians, trustees and power of attorney. Discussing the proper insurance products available to hedge against unexpected circumstances is also very important.

My advisor, and the support he’s provided, is invaluable. He took the time to understand my individual situation and crafted personalized solutions for me and my family. To other advisors who have clients with a disabled family member, please know that you have a crucial role in supporting them in a deep and meaningful way that goes beyond the formalities of a written financial plan.

You can make a world of difference in the lives of your clients — and their kids.