Special Needs Planning · Delaware
Special needs financial planning in Delaware
Delaware is next door: some of our families are in Wilmington and Newark, close enough to visit the Parkville office and near enough to Maryland that their questions sound like our neighbors'. Registered in Delaware, planning over video or in person.
For Delaware families, the planning playbook mirrors what we run at home: keep your child's countable assets clear of the $2,000 SSI line, use an ABLE account for independence and a special needs trust for legacy money, and treat the 18th birthday as a project with a deadline rather than a surprise.
Being one state over helps in practice. Cross-border families with a parent working in Maryland and a child receiving services in Delaware are ordinary cases here, not exotic ones.
Delaware's ABLE program: DEpendABLE
Delaware's DEpendABLE program runs on a national ABLE platform, keeping costs reasonable for a small state. Delaware families can also choose most other states' programs, so we compare on fees and features rather than assuming the home flag wins.
Written by Colin Meeks, CFP® · Registered to serve Delaware residents · Last updated August 6, 2026
The guides Delaware families use most
ABLE Accounts→
The $2,000 SSI resource limit puts families in a straitjacket: help your adult child save, and you can cost them their benefits. ABLE accounts exist to cut that knot.
Special Needs Trusts→
A special needs trust is a legal arrangement that holds money for a person with a disability so it generally doesn't count toward SSI or Medicaid resource limits, when drafted correctly by an attorney. A trustee manages distributions for needs benefits don't cover. There are third-party, first-party, and pooled versions, and each follows different rules.
Turning 18→
Nothing about your child changes on their 18th birthday. Everything about the rules does. Families who start at 16 or 17 walk through this calmly. Families who start at 18 spend a year untangling.
Common questions from Delaware families
Absolutely. Parkville is about an hour and a half from Wilmington, and a number of Delaware clients combine an annual in-person review with video meetings the rest of the year.
The first call works the same from Delaware.
Fifteen minutes, complimentary, over video or phone. Tell us your situation and we'll tell you honestly whether we can help.
Prefer the phone? Call 410-663-0700 and ask for Colin.