ABSTRACT

Background: Parents making a will most commonly distribute assets evenly to adult children. How parents of an adult child with an intellectual disability use wills to plan for future care and support has had limited policy, practice and research attention.

Method: This research reports on the perceptions of 20 parents regarding the impact of the needs of their child with disability on estate planning. The participants were purposively recruited and interviewed during 2014–15.

Results: Participants were more likely to consider equity of outcomes for their children taking into account retaining access to state services. They report difficulties in future planning in the context of changing service systems and limited specialised advice.

Conclusions: Judgements about what is fair and reasonable in distributing assets reflect differing views of need and entitlement within families. Such families would benefit from specialised advice and support in estate planning, particularly given the changing context.

摘要

背景：订立遗嘱的父母通常将资产平均分配给成年子女。成年智障儿童的父母如何使用其意愿来计划未来的护理和支持，这在政策，实践和研究上都受到了限制。

方法：本研究报告了20位父母对残疾儿童需求对遗产规划的影响的看法。目的参与者是在2014-15年度期间有意招募和面试的。

结果：参加者在考虑保留获得国家服务的机会时，更可能考虑其子女的成果平等。他们报告说，在服务系统不断变化和专业建议有限的情况下，未来的计划存在困难。

结论：关于公平合理分配资产的判断反映了家庭内部对需求和权利的不同看法。这些家庭将从遗产规划中的专业建议和支持中受益，尤其是在环境不断变化的情况下。