Why It’s a Mistake to Leave Estate Assets Directly to Outright Child

Many people understand why young adults and minors should not inherit property outright. Someone with the experience and maturity must be able to manage the assets and make critical spending decisions but it can still be a mistake to leave assets outright to adult children.

Overlooking the benefits of leaving assets inside a trust for adult children is a major mistake that you can make in the estate planning process. There are risks associated with leaving wealth outright, even to grown children, and major benefits associated with using an inheritance trust instead.

Getting to a particular age doesn’t mean that someone has the financial skills to handle a windfall of money. The level of financial acumen associated with managing a large inheritance increases just as someone’s age does. Limiting annual distributions to only a percentage of the trust value or only an investment income is one popular strategy for accomplishing your goals with an estate plan that uses trusts to pass on assets to adult children. You can also take advantage of some tax benefits by having a plan put in place well in advance by an experienced estate planning lawyer in Virginia.