DO YOU “TRUST” YOUR CHILDREN?
By
ALICE REITER FELD, ESQ.
One minute, they’re tiny, helpless little things crying in their cribs. And the next, they’re flying the coop, most likely, forever.
Happens overnight, doesn’t it?
Just because they leave, though, doesn’t mean you stop worrying about them. In fact, you now have to worry about them not only for the rest of your life, but also for the time after that.
You worry they’ll waste your money after you’ve left it to them. You worry that, if you pass while they’re still in college, they’ll stop going to college. And you worry that unscrupulous people will separate them from the money you’ve worked so hard to leave them.
Creating a trust might enable you to live out your life without those worries. You can create an inter vivos trust for while you’re still here, or a testamentary trust to be implemented when you’re not.
Trusts offer several ways to protect your money from irresponsible behavior by your heirs. For example, instead of leaving your children lump-sums when you pass, you can have those sums distributed over time. You could designate specific percentages to be given to them when they reach specific ages.
Or, you can create a trust that would give your heirs some money for specific expenses, rather than all at once. Or a trust that shields money you’ve left them from creditors who are after them.
Any parent knows: You don’t stop being a parent when they get older. In fact, because they often have to make tough “life” decisions when they’re older, you’re often just as involved as you ever were.
But what would happen if you weren’t there to help them with those tough decisions? (And, let’s face it…one day you won’t be!) You can still help them – by drawing up a trust that can protect them from scammers and from their own mistakes.
And you’ll be helping yourself, too – by giving yourself the gift of peace of mind.
An Elder Law attorney can help you put it all together.
