Childish Behavior

Yesterday we talked about a few factors to consider when setting an age at which your young children will receive their inheritance. I'd like to talk a bit more about this subject over the next few days by looking at some of the different approaches to setting that age.

First we should talk about what circumstances lead to restricting your children from inheriting until they have lived a certain number of years. Most of the time, my clients who want to choose an age are new parents or the parents of a young family. Other reasons to set an age restriction include children who are irresponsible or children who are in a difficult or troubled relationship (such as a bad marriage). If you find yourself in one of these situations or have your own reasons for postponing the eventual distributions from your estate, you have lots of options for choosing the age at which your heirs will receive their inheritance.

The most common approach is simply choosing an age. Common choices include 18, 21, 25, and 30. What if your 19 year-old isn't responsible enough to handle $50,000 in cash? Or $500,000? Think about what you would have done at age 19 (or 21). See my point? But how do you choose an age at which your kids will be responsible with their inheritance without insulting them? You have a lot of good choices, and we'll start talking about them next time.

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Lawyer Joke of the Day

"You are a cheat!" shouted the attorney to his opponent.

"And you're a liar!" bellowed the opposition.

Banging his gavel loudly, the judge interjected, "Now that both attorneys have been identified for the record, let's get on with the case."