Disbursements from Henson Trusts and Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSP) can be co-ordinated to provide for children with special needs, Ottawa disabilities and estate planning lawyer Kenneth Pope tells AdvocateDaily.com.
Pope, principal of Kenneth C. Pope Law, says that parents are often confused about the interaction between the two, and wish to roll one into the other as part of their will.
“That can’t be done — the Henson Trust is completely separate from the RDSP,” he says, explaining that while the parents of a child with disabilities may be the account holders of their RDSP, the child is the actual owner and beneficiary of the plan.
Henson Trusts, by contrast, receive the child’s inheritance from the parents after they die, made up of assets from the estate.