Home 2026

For families with loved ones with special needs

Bring every part of your family’s plan together

The best planning does more than prepare for the future. It helps your whole family live well today while making sure the financial, legal, and support pieces are working together for what comes next.

ENABLE brings those pieces into one clear, coordinated plan — with a trusted team alongside your family as life changes.

Take the ENABLE Snapshot
The challenge

Having the pieces isn’t the same as having a plan

You may already have an attorney, a financial advisor, estate planning documents, life insurance, and even a special needs trust.

Or you may still be trying to figure out where to begin.

Do all of those pieces actually work together?

Too often, families are left trying to connect advice from professionals who are each focused on one part of the picture.

  • Financial and legal decisions being made separately
  • A special needs trust without a clear strategy for how it will be funded
  • Beneficiary designations that don’t fully align with the estate plan
  • Future guardians, trustees, caregivers, or other family members who aren’t prepared for the roles they may one day hold
  • Planning that checks important boxes on paper but still doesn’t fully support the life your family wants to build

And when those pieces are disconnected, parents are often still the ones trying to hold everything together — keeping track of what each professional is doing, spotting gaps, and wondering whether all of it really adds up to the future they want.

ENABLE helps you step back, see the whole picture, and bring the pieces together — so you don’t have to carry the coordination on your own.

The ENABLE process

One coordinated plan for the whole family

Special needs planning isn’t one financial decision, one legal document, or one conversation about the future.

At ENABLE, we look at the decisions your family is making across life — how you want to live, how you use and protect your resources, who may support your loved one, and how the plan will be carried forward — and help make sure they all point in the same direction.

We organize that work around four connected areas.

01

Vision

Start with the life you want to build.

We help you define what a meaningful, well-supported future looks like for your loved one and for the rest of your family.

That can include your loved one’s relationships, independence, housing, work, and support needs — alongside your own retirement, your other children, your family priorities, and the life you want to live together.

02

Financial

Make sure your resources support the bigger picture.

We look at the financial pieces together — including cash flow, savings, investments, retirement, insurance, benefits, liquidity, trust funding, beneficiary designations, and longer-term family and legacy priorities.

The goal isn’t simply to accumulate resources. It’s to make sure those resources are structured intentionally to support the life and future you’re planning for.

03

Legal

Protect what you’ve built and make sure it works the way you intend.

Estate documents, special needs trusts, guardianship or other decision-making arrangements, trustees, and other key roles provide the legal structure behind the plan.

Those legal pieces should protect the vision you’ve created and allow the financial strategies supporting it to work as intended.

04

Communication

Make sure the plan doesn’t live only in your head — or in a binder.

We help families document the information that matters, clarify responsibilities, and prepare the people who may one day step in.

That means helping future trustees, guardians, caregivers, siblings, and other members of your support team understand both what the plan says and what your family wants it to accomplish.

Coordination in practice

What it looks like when the pieces actually work together

A coordinated plan is more than a collection of documents and recommendations.

It means the different parts of your family’s life reinforce one another — and you have a team paying attention to how the whole picture fits together.

One strategy

Your family’s vision drives the plan. Financial strategies help fund it. Legal structures help protect it. Communication prepares the people who may one day carry it forward.

Instead of separate decisions moving in different directions, everything is working toward the same goals.

One view of the plan

You can see how assets, accounts, insurance, beneficiary designations, trusts, and other resources are intended to flow now and in the future — and where gaps still need attention.

One future support team

The people who may one day serve as trustees, guardians, caregivers, advocates, or decision-makers are chosen intentionally and understand the roles they may play.

Ongoing guidance

Your family will change. Laws, benefits, finances, relationships, and priorities will change too.

Your plan should evolve with them.

You shouldn’t have to be the person keeping all of these pieces connected on your own.
Experience & trust

Trusted by families nationwide — and recognized across the special needs community

With nearly two decades of special needs planning experience, ENABLE has helped families across the country navigate the financial, legal, and personal decisions that shape their futures.

Phillip Clark, ChSNC®, co-founder of ENABLE, has also been invited to educate families and professionals through national and statewide conferences, podcasts, publications, and leading special needs organizations.

National Down Syndrome Congress
National Down Syndrome Society
Autism Society
The Mighty
The Lucky Few
“We have a plan. We have a team. There’s such a peace in knowing ENABLE is there to help hold it all together now — and in the future.”

Josh & Heather Avis

Founders, The Lucky Few

A clear place to begin

You don’t have to have all the answers before you begin

The ENABLE Snapshot gives you a chance to step back and take stock of where your family is today — what you already have in place, what may still be missing, and where it could make sense to focus next.

From there, we can help you determine the right next step.

01

Take the ENABLE Snapshot

Answer a few questions about your family, your priorities, and the planning you already have in place.

02

Get clear on what comes next

Based on where things stand today, we’ll guide you toward the planning conversation that best fits your family.

03

Talk through your path forward

Ask questions, clarify your priorities, and better understand what the next stage of planning could look like for your family.

You don’t have to keep piecing this together on your own

Whether you’re starting from the beginning or already have years of planning behind you, there’s value in stepping back, seeing the whole picture, and having a team help keep it connected over time.

Take the ENABLE Snapshot and start bringing the pieces together.

Take the ENABLE Snapshot

Recent Posts

Helpful Tips to Reduce Stress When Moving With a Child With Disabilities

Guest post by: Justin Bennett | justinbennett@healthyfit.info The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of ENABLE Special Needs Planning.  The ENABLE Special Needs Planning comprehensive process helps you create an abundant life for your child today, while building a future for … Continue reading Helpful Tips to Reduce Stress When Moving With a Child With Disabilities

Find a Path Into the Arts for Your Child With Learning Disabilities

Guest post by: Jenna Sherman | Parent-leaders.com | jennasherman@parent-leaders.com The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do notnecessarily reflect the official policy or position of ENABLE Special Needs Planning. Your child’s school may not help them develop their creative skills because of funding cuts, which have hit art programs particularly hard. … Continue reading Find a Path Into the Arts for Your Child With Learning Disabilities

The Benefits Of Swimming For Children With Special Needs

The following article is a guest contribution written by Rick Patterson of Poolonomics.com – a pool and spa care blog. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do notnecessarily reflect the official policy or position of ENABLE Special Needs Planning. Swimming is a full body activity that helps … Continue reading The Benefits Of Swimming For Children With Special Needs

More Posts