Special Needs Planning · Florida
Special needs financial planning in Florida
A fair number of Maryland families end up with a Florida address eventually, and several kept working with us after the moving truck left. We're registered in Florida and meet over video, snowbirds and year-rounders alike.
Florida's lack of a state income tax changes some of the planning math, but the fundamentals hold: SSI's resource limit is federal, ABLE protections are federal, and the gap between a drafted trust and a funded one is universal.
For Florida families we focus on program selection without a tax-deduction thumb on the scale, coordinating trusts with Florida attorneys, and the same turning-18 discipline we run everywhere: audit the accounts at 16, fix titling early, file SSI on time.
Florida's ABLE program: ABLE United
Florida's ABLE United is open to Florida residents with no enrollment fee and a straightforward investment menu. With no state income tax in Florida, there's no deduction at stake, which frees the comparison to be purely about fees and features across state programs.
Written by Colin Meeks, CFP® · Registered to serve Florida residents · Last updated August 6, 2026
The guides Florida 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 trust is how grandparents leave an inheritance, how life insurance pays out, and how larger money supports your child for decades, all without touching benefit eligibility. It's also the document most families get drafted and then never actually fund.
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 Florida families
Mostly yes, with a checklist: ABLE accounts usually transfer or stay put, trusts should get a Florida attorney's review, and benefit administration moves to Florida agencies. We've walked families through this exact move and keep the plan continuous across it.
The first call works the same from Florida.
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.