How to Avoid Spoiling Your Kids With an Estate Plan in Stuart

If you’re worried about leaving too much wealth to your kid, it’s safe to say that this is a good problem to have. It is certainly preferable to leaving your children with too little wealth – or with excessive debt. Regardless, this is still a valid problem – even if it is something that only relatively high-net-worth families have to deal with. So how do you avoid “spoiling” your kids with a high inheritance? Can an estate planning lawyer in Stuart help you with this issue?

Consider a Trust

A trust can provide considerable flexibility and control for those who are concerned about the well-being of their beneficiaries. If you believe that a high inheritance might spoil your children or discourage them from achieving their own financial success, a trust can address this concern in many ways.

First, you can create a “spendthrift” trust that distributes a small amount on a recurring basis. With these gradual “disbursements,” your children cannot waste their entire inheritance too quickly. A spendthrift trust also prevents your beneficiaries from becoming too reliant on the trust assets, thereby encouraging them to become successful in their own right.

Trusts can also place conditions on inheritance. For example, you might want your adult son to become a doctor or a lawyer before they get access to their inheritance. Perhaps you simply want them to complete a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in college.

You might also create a trust that incentivizes your beneficiaries to deal with irresponsible and self-damaging behavior. For example, the adult child might only be able to inherit the assets once they complete treatment for a gambling or substance addiction. Speak with your estate planning lawyers to learn more about these possibilities.

Try Conditional Bequests

You might also want to try a “conditional bequest.” You can make these bequests on your Will, and they create various conditions that your beneficiaries must satisfy before inheriting the assets. A common conditional bequest involves age, and you can state that your beneficiaries must wait until reaching a certain age before inheriting the assets. This might help prevent a young and foolhardy beneficiary from inheriting the sums too early, and they may be more mature and responsible at an older age. You might also make conditional bequests based on education or create a plan where the distributions from a trust match a child’s own earnings in some pre-determined way.

Trusts may provide more control and reliability due to the presence of a trustee. This overseer can make sure that your wishes are respected, and they can make sure that your young ones do not waste their inheritance. On the other hand, there is no such individual to oversee these matters when you make conditional bequests.

Can a Stuart Estate Planning Attorney Help?

A Stuart estate planning lawyer can help you explore many potential strategies to prevent your inheritance from spoiling your kids. You might want to set up a trust if you find yourself in this situation, and this can provide plenty of flexibility. However, the most appropriate solution depends entirely on your unique situation, and you should discuss your options with an experienced estate planning lawyer. Contact Kitroser Lewis & Mighdoll today to learn more.

Sources 

lsd.law/define/conditional-bequest

leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0736/0736.html