Should I give my children their inheritance all at once or over a
period of time?
Although your natural inclination may be to give your adult
children their inheritances outright, that may not be the best or wisest course
of action for them. A well-thought out
series of sub-trusts in your living trust can provide for the specific needs of
each child.
Leaving property to your children
in trust can often protect them from their own inexperience with money, from
their inability to make wise decisions, from their creditors or from a
divorcing spouse. Adult children who do not have experience with large sums of
money are often overwhelmed when they receive an inheritance. They may make poor choices and come to
realize, too late, that their inheritances have gone to poor investments and
frivolous spending.
Perhaps an adult child is easily influenced by friends and
family and can’t say “no” when asked for a handout. Perhaps he or she has a drug or alcohol
problem, and a large windfall will only increase his or her inability to
satisfy the dependency. Perhaps at the
time of your death, one of your children have the misfortune of being in the
middle of a nasty divorce or lawsuit.
By using a separate sub-trust for each
child, you can plan for all these situations very specifically if they
currently exist, or you can plan in anticipation of the possibility of those
problems and provide some protection for your children if it is later needed.
LAW OFFICES OF SUZANNE M. GRAVES, INC.
A Professional Corporation
Suzanne M. Graves
Attorney & Counselor at Law
No comments:
Post a Comment