Could a Trust Help New Parents Plan for the Future?

Looking ahead to the future and adding a new child makes it even more important for you to consider how estate planning factors into the big picture. Becoming a parent means taking on a completely new level of responsibility and while it seems like the number of tasks on your to-do list could be endless, it’s very important to ensure that making an estate plan shows up at the top of the priority list.

There are several different things you can do to give yourself peace of mind and confidence that your child is cared for. These include making a will and naming a guardian for your children, buying life insurance, updating beneficiary forms of retirement plans and other documents and considering setting up a trust.

In the event that you were to pass away before your children turn age 18, a trust is an important estate planning document because children cannot directly take control of any inheritance that you leave behind.

The court could end up having to appoint someone to manage those assets that you leave behind to your children and this could also be an unfortunate situation since your new 18-year-old would then have the potential to inherit a lot of property and money. It is far better to ensure that you exercise some level of control by putting together a trust.

This will allow you to determine how your money and property should be used, specifying who is responsible for managing the assets and identifying when your children should be able to receive a transfer of wealth. Schedule a consultation with an experienced Virginia estate planning lawyer to learn more about how trusts can become the cornerstone of your new estate plan.