Supported by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), Special Needs Trust Company (SNTC) is the only non-profit trust company set up to provide affordable trust services for persons with disabilities.

The purpose of SNTC is to provide a vehicle that ensures the financial security of persons with special needs is met when their parents or caregivers pass on.

SNTC has a team of trained social workers who will work with the caregivers to develop individualised care plans for each special beneficiary to meet their long-term care needs.

The PSN child must be resident in Singapore and be either a Singaporean or Singapore permanent resident.

Caregiver has to submit an application form to SNTC.  SNTC will then appoint a case manager who is an employee of SNTC and a trained social worker, to review the application.

The SNTC case manager will assess the PSN’s needs to develop a detailed Care Plan to estimate the amount of funds the PSN needs for the rest of his life. The Care Plan also details how the PSN should be looked after, including his food and future accommodation needs, the therapy and medicines he needs, the people he is fond of meeting and other care and financial matters.

The Care Plan is the result of SNTC’s holistic needs assessment to understand the PSN’s family and the sources of funds. The objective is to be as detailed as possible so that the PSN can enjoy a similar quality of life when the caregiver is no longer around.

The Special Needs Savings Scheme (SNSS)

The parent of a PSN can make a CPF nomination to benefit his PSN.  However, the CPF savings will be distributed as a lump sum upon the parent’s death. This may not be suitable since the PSN is unlikely to be able to handle a potentially large lump sum of money.

A good option is to use the SNSS scheme, which allows parents to nominate their PSN to receive monthly payments from the parent’s CPF savings after the parent’s demise. There is no minimum CPF balance required at the time of application. However, at the time of the parent’s death, there should be at least a balance of $3,000 so that the minimum monthly CPF payout of $250 can be made. Otherwise, the full amount would be disbursed.  Of course, parents can specify that a larger monthly amount be made if desired.

Appointing Guardian / Deputy for the PSN

If either parent passes away, the survivor of them becomes the sole guardian of their children who are under the age of 21. If both parents pass away, their Wills should have named someone to be the guardian of their children.

The parents of a PSN can have guardianship extended beyond age 21 by applying to court to become his deputies even before he reaches 21.  They can then appoint successor deputies who can act when both parents are unable to. 

Setting up a Private Trust for the whole family

Parents of a PSN could consider setting up a Private Trust for themselves and all their children, including the PSN.  The Private Trust can then pass monies to the SNTC Trust as needed for the care of the PSN on an ongoing basis rather than as a lump sum.