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Should You Form a Trust if You Have Minor Children?

On Behalf of | Aug 10, 2022 | TRUSTS

If you have minor children, you want to make sure their inheritance is not wasted should you pass away while they are young. A trust allows you to have greater control over your estate distribution, so speak with a trusts attorney today.

If you have children, protecting their future and also your current assets is an important thing to do for your and your child’s financial stability. While this article will present a general understanding of why you might form a trust if you have minor children, a well-informed lawyer can help advise you of the best options available for your specific situation.

Forming a trust for your minor children allows you to control assets

Often, individuals with younger children believe that a will is generally sufficient for their estate planning at the time, and they may put off further considerations for later in life. Should unfortunate events unfold, however, and you are no longer able to provide for your children, a trust is an important estate planning feature to have in place to protect your assets and to ensure that your children gain access to your assets in a manner that you agree with.

If you only have a will, the assets that go to your children will be distributed to them all at once. The person who becomes their guardian will be in charge of these funds, and you will have no way of controlling what happens to them. If you form a trust, however, you can throttle distributions over time. Your successor trustee will distribute your assets as directed in the trust document, which helps to ensure your child receives the funds as needed and they are not wasted.

In addition, some people include conditions for their children to access all or a portion of their trust property, such as reaching a certain age or benchmarks like graduating high school or college. Other conditions may be put into the estate plan through which distributions could be taken upon the occurrence of a specified event. For example, some trusts establish that drug addiction would surrender one’s distribution under the estate plan, encouraging children to maintain sobriety and responsibility.

Discuss trust formation and your children with your attorney

Many people have questions about trust formation and why it is beneficial. Your lawyer can help you create a trust in accordance with the law, including designating a successor trustee, drafting your trust document with distribution instructions, and transferring your property into the trust.

Some of the main reasons to form a trust for minor children include:

  • It gives you general control over your children’s inheritance
  • It can give you even more specific control over your children’s inheritance
  • You can decide who manages their inheritance rather than the court
  • Create terms or benchmarks to access the trust to protect their futures

Schedule your consultation with a leading trusts attorney lawyer now

If you’re ready to take the next steps and secure your present assets for the future of your children through a trust, call (916) 790-0852 or go online to book a consultation with The Sterling Law Group today. We assist clients with all types of family situations and concerns put in place the most effective estate plan for their circumstances.