In this Elder Law Minute, Kaye DeSelms Dent explains how inheritance protection trusts and spendthrift provisions can be used in estate planning, why a trustee can help protect inherited assets, and how parents can create different plans for different children based on their individual circumstances.
Introduction
Hi I’m Kaye DeSelms Dent with Dent Coulson Elder Law here with an elder law minute for you. These videos are intended to educate you about the Elder Care Journey which begins earlier in life than you might think. We hope that you find them useful and if you have further questions please call us at Dent Coulson Elder Law.
How to Protect Your Child’s Inheritance
Today I have an elder law minute for you to discuss how you might protect your kids inheritance.
There are a lot of reasons that people don’t necessarily want their children or maybe one or two children in particular out of multiple children to inherit assets directly.
When Direct Inheritance May Not Be the Best Choice
This might be because the child or children are very young or maybe you know young adults who don’t quite have their judgment completely developed.
It might be that the child or children are spend thrifts.
We might be in a situation involving what I call Outlaws where there’s a daughter or son-in-law who maybe is a spend Thrift or where you’re concerned about what happens to these assets if my child gets divorced.
You might also just be concerned about General bad luck.
Using a Protective Trust
In these situations remember that you don’t have to leave assets directly to your children directly in their control.
You can leave Assets in a protective Trust in which you appoint a trustee who’s not your child to control the assets for your child’s benefit so your child can still have access but they have to go through somebody usually a professional trustee who’s really a gatekeeper and who will make sure that the money is put to its best use is invested properly and isn’t subject to your child’s creditors.
Protecting an Inheritance From Creditors and Divorce
And again creditors can involve not just what you think about people that your child owes money to a divorcing spouse is really considered a creditor.
Using this kind of spendthrift trust or inheritance protection trust can have many advantages to making sure that assets that you leave to that child or children are put in a way to last as long as possible for that child’s benefit or for your children’s benefit.
Different Plans for Different Children
Again you can even pick and choose one child can have assets out right one child in a trust.
Another consideration is if you have a child who is a professional in a profession that exposes them to liability leaving assets to them in a protective trust can give them basically a cushion in case they encounter a loss on their own they still have the assets that you’ve left them.
Closing
If you’d like to talk more about protecting your child’s inheritance call the attorneys at Dent Coulson Elder Law today thank you.
Also looking for information about Medicaid and Asset Preservation? Visit these articles:
“Your Trusted Advisor on the Elder Care Journey”
Dent-Coulson Elder Law is dedicated to providing families in the St. Louis area with their Elder Law needs. Our practice areas include Asset Preservation Planning, Veterans Benefits, Medicaid Eligibility, Alzheimer’s Planning, Special Needs Planning, Estate Planning and more. We understand the financial challenges you may face as you and your loved ones grow older. At Dent-Coulson Elder Law, our clients’ well-being is our number one priority. For immediate help, call (618) 632-7000 (IL) or (314) 567-9292 (MO), or Contact Us and we will get in touch as soon as possible.