Divorce, Child Support, and Your Child’s SSI: What Louisiana Parents Need to Know

Divorce is hard. When your family includes a child with a disability, it can feel overwhelming. On top of the emotional weight, you’re also trying to make sure your child continues to receive the government benefits they depend on — benefits that can be thrown into jeopardy by something as routine as a child support order.

At Progeny Law Firm, we work with Louisiana families every day who are navigating exactly this situation. The good news is that with the right legal planning, you can protect your child’s Supplemental Security Income (SSI) while still ensuring they receive meaningful financial support from both parents. But the window to act is narrow, and Louisiana’s laws add a layer of complexity that most general family law attorneys are simply not familiar with.

This post walks through what you need to know.

SSI 101: Why Every Dollar Counts

Supplemental Security Income is a federal benefit program that provides monthly income to individuals with disabilities who have limited resources. In 2026, the maximum federal benefit is $994 per month. To qualify, your child generally must have:

• Countable resources below $2,000, and
• Limited monthly income — most unearned income above a $20 general exclusion reduces SSI dollar for dollar

That dollar-for-dollar reduction is the critical issue when child support enters the picture.

The Problem: Child Support Paid Directly Can Shrink — or Eliminate — SSI

Here’s a scenario we see regularly in our Baton Rouge practice:

A mother is awarded custody of her 10-year-old son, who has a developmental disability and receives $994/month in SSI. As part of the divorce, the father is ordered to pay $800/month in child support directly to the mother. Because that child support is counted as to the child, his SSI benefit drops by $780 (after the $20 exclusion). The family’s available monthly support goes from $1,794 to $1,014 — a loss of $780 every single month.

This is not a hypothetical edge case. It happens in Louisiana courtrooms every day when divorcing families don’t have a special needs attorney at the table alongside their family law attorney.

The Solution: Irrevocably Assign Child Support to a Special Needs Trust

The fix is elegant, but it must be done correctly. Rather than ordering child support to be paid directly to the custodial parent, the court can order the payments to be irrevocably assigned to a first-party Special Needs Trust (SNT) for the benefit of the child.

A first-party SNT — also called a (d)(4)(A) trust or an OBRA trust — holds funds that legally belong to the child, but because they are managed entirely at the trustee’s discretion, the Social Security Administration does not count them as income for SSI purposes. The child keeps their full $994/month, and the trust accumulates funds to cover supplemental needs that SSI doesn’t address: therapies, adaptive equipment, recreational activities, transportation, and more.

Important: The assignment must be irrevocable and it must be ordered by the court as part of the divorce decree or child support order. An informal agreement between parents is not sufficient to protect SSI eligibility.

First-Party vs. Third-Party SNTs: What’s the Difference?

Louisiana families going through divorce typically encounter two types of Special Needs Trusts, and the distinction matters significantly.

First-Party (Self-Settled) SNT

This trust holds funds that belong to the child — including court-ordered child support. It is the appropriate vehicle when child support is being irrevocably assigned. Key features:

• Funded with the child’s own assets or court-ordered support
• Protects SSI and Medicaid eligibility
• Subject to a Medicaid payback requirement: at the child’s death, the state of Louisiana must be reimbursed for Medicaid benefits paid during the child’s lifetime before any remaining funds pass to other heirs

Third-Party SNT

This trust is funded with assets belonging to someone other than the child — for example, a parent who voluntarily wants to provide for the child without a court order. Key features:

• Funded by a parent, grandparent, or other third party
• Protects SSI and Medicaid eligibility
• No Medicaid payback requirement — remaining funds at the child’s death can pass freely to other beneficiaries

If the non-custodial parent is not legally obligated to pay child support — for example, after a child turns 18 in some circumstances — they may voluntarily contribute to a third-party SNT instead. This approach preserves flexibility and avoids the payback requirement entirely.

Louisiana Is Different: Four Rules You Cannot Ignore

Louisiana operates under a civil law system derived from French and Spanish law, not the common law framework that governs every other state. That distinction runs through our trust law, our family law, and our succession law. Here are the four Louisiana-specific rules that every divorcing parent of a disabled child must understand.

1. New 2025 Deadline: File Before Your Child Turns 18

This is the rule that catches families off guard most often. Effective January 1, 2025, Louisiana law requires that a parent seeking to continue child support for a disabled adult child must file a contradictory motion before the child reaches age 18. If that deadline passes without action, the child support obligation terminates automatically.

Louisiana provides two tracks for continuing support:

• Developmental disability (La. Rev. Stat. § 28:451.2): Support may continue until age 22 if the child has a qualifying developmental disability and remains a full-time secondary school student.
• Intellectual or physical disability preventing self-support: Support may continue indefinitely — with no upper age limit — for an unmarried child whose qualifying disability existed before age 18 and who requires substantial care and personal supervision. Note that substance abuse and addiction are expressly excluded under La. Rev. Stat. §§ 9:315.22(C), (D) and 9:315.22.1(A).

Action item: If your child is approaching age 18 and you are receiving or paying child support, contact a Louisiana family law and special needs attorney immediately. The deadline is hard, and missing it has permanent consequences.

2. Community Property Consent Requirements

Louisiana is a community property state. When divorcing spouses want to transfer community assets into an irrevocable trust — including funding an SNT — both spouses must consent. A transfer made by one spouse alone can be voided.

In the context of a divorce, this means the establishment of an irrevocable SNT and any initial funding must be addressed expressly in the divorce decree or community property settlement agreement. Leaving this to be worked out after the fact is a mistake we see too often.

3. Forced Heirship: You Cannot Disinherit a Disabled Child

Louisiana is the only state in the country that maintains forced heirship. Under Louisiana Civil Code Articles 1493–1495, a child of any age who has a permanent disability rendering them incapable of caring for themselves or administering their estate is a forced heir entitled to a reserved portion of each parent’s estate.

This is both a protection and a trap. If a disabled child inherits directly — even from a well meaning grandparent who didn’t know better — that inheritance can disqualify them from SSI and Medicaid. The solution is to ensure that every inheritance, bequest, and life insurance proceeds intended for a disabled family member flow through a properly drafted SNT, not directly to the child.

Bottom line: If you have a disabled child, your will, your parents’ wills, and every beneficiary designation in your family should direct assets to an SNT — not outright to your child.

4. Continuing Tutorship: Act Before Age 18 or Face a Much Harder Road

When a child with a severe mental disability turns 18, Louisiana law presumes they have full legal capacity. Without legal intervention, no one — including a parent — can legally make financial or personal decisions on their behalf.

Louisiana provides two mechanisms:

• Continuing Tutorship: A streamlined process available for children between ages 15 and 18 with a severe mental disability expected to persist for life. It must be filed and granted before the child turns 18. It is faster, less expensive, and less burdensome than the alternative.
• Interdiction: If the Continuing Tutorship window is missed, parents must pursue interdiction after the child turns 18. This process requires a court-appointed attorney for the child, involves sheriff service, and is significantly more expensive and time-consuming.

An SNT paired with a Continuing Tutorship creates a comprehensive legal framework for your child’s financial and personal care. At Progeny Law Firm, we strongly recommend that parents begin this process as early as age 15 or 16 to avoid any last-minute complications.

What If You’re Already Divorced?

If your divorce is already finalized and child support is currently being paid directly to you or the other parent, all is not lost. In many cases, an existing child support order can be modified to redirect payments irrevocably to a first-party SNT.

Similarly, if your child’s disability developed or was diagnosed after the divorce, or if the parents were never married, a Louisiana court can enter a new child support order and include the SNT assignment from the outset.

The process requires filing a modification motion and proper service under Louisiana law. Our team can walk you through exactly what that looks like for your situation.

A Note on Medicaid

SSI and Medicaid eligibility are closely linked — most SSI recipients automatically qualify for Medicaid. Child support paid directly to or for the benefit of a child can affect both. In Louisiana, Medicaid is administered by the Louisiana Department of Health, and the state participates in several home and community-based waiver programs that provide critical services for individuals with disabilities.

Medicaid qualification rules are more state-specific than SSI, and the interaction between child support, trust distributions, and Medicaid eligibility requires careful planning. This is not an area where generic national guidance is reliable.

Your Louisiana Divorce Checklist: Protecting Your Child’s Benefits

If you are going through a divorce — or anticipating one — and you have a child with a disability, here is what needs to be on your legal team’s radar:

• Involve a special needs attorney early, before the divorce decree is signed. Changes after the fact are possible but harder.
• Request irrevocable assignment of child support to a first-party SNT in the divorce decree.
• Address community property consent for any trust funding in the settlement agreement.
• File the motion to continue child support for your disabled child before they turn 18 (effective January 1, 2025 under La. Rev. Stat. § 9:315.22.1).
• Update all estate planning documents (wills, beneficiary designations, life insurance) to route inheritances through an SNT, not directly to your child.
• Consider Continuing Tutorship starting at age 15–16 to ensure legal decision-making authority is in place before your child turns 18.
• Review Louisiana Medicaid waiver program eligibility separately from SSI planning.

We’re Here to Help

At Progeny Law Firm, we have spent over two decades helping Louisiana families protect the people they love most. Special needs planning in the context of divorce is one of the most nuanced areas of our practice — and one of the most consequential. A missed deadline or an improperly drafted trust provision can cost your child tens of thousands of dollars in lost benefits over a lifetime.

You don’t have to figure this out alone. Whether you’re in the middle of a divorce, recently finalized one, or simply want to make sure your child’s plan is as strong as it can be, we’d be honored to help.

This blog post is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every family’s situation is unique, and laws change frequently. Please consult with a licensed Louisiana attorney — including a special needs planning attorney and a family law attorney — before making any legal or financial decisions. Reading this post does not create an attorney-client relationship with Progeny Law Firm.