Minors As Beneficiaries of a Will

You can name almost anyone as a beneficiary of your will. Charitable organizations can inherit money from you, and so can any individual, regardless of his or her relationship to you. Non-human animals cannot be beneficiaries of a will. There is no limit to the age of the beneficiaries. An aphorism of estate planning says that, when a child is born to you, you should update your will to add him or her as a beneficiary. There have been plenty of probate cases where siblings fought over their inheritance, because the parent’s will did not mention the youngest sibling. Time passes quickly, and every year the probate court administers many wills that the testator wrote decades before he or she died. If you want a young family member to inherit money from you, the time to update your will is now. Inheritance by minors is more legally complex than inheritance by adults, though. To find out more about providing for young relatives in your estate plan without causing undue stress for the rest of your family, contact a Washington, D.C. estate planning lawyer.

What Does the Guardian of a Minor’s Property Do?

When most people name their children, grandchildren, nieces, or nephews as beneficiaries of their will, they do it in the hopes that the beneficiaries will already be grown up when they inherit the property. If a beneficiary of a will is still a minor when the estate settles, the provisions pertaining to him or her are still valid. The young beneficiary still inherits the money, but he or she cannot access it directly until age 18.

The court must appoint a guardian of the property for the minor. This guardian can open an account to deposit the inherited money and make transactions from that account. Any legally competent adult can act as a guardian of the property of a minor. It is usually a parent of the young beneficiary, but it could be another family member, or even a lawyer. The guardian must provide statements to the court about the minor’s property. If the guardian withdrew any money from the minor’s account, he or she must show that the guardian used the money only to pay the minor’s expenses.

It Is Simpler to Designate Minors as Beneficiaries of a Trust

The guardian of a minor’s property acts like the trustee of a trust, with several important differences. First, the court is involved with guardianship of a minor’s property, but the court might not even know that a trust exists. Furthermore, the testator of a will cannot tell the guardian how to spend the minor beneficiary’s money, but the grantor of a trust can. In the trust instrument, the grantor can include as much detail as he or she wants about how the trustee should disburse the money; you can even choose not to have the beneficiary receive the remaining trust money as a lump sum upon reaching adulthood.

Contact Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C. About Providing for Young Family Members

A Washington, D.C. estate planning attorney can help you be generous to your young family members through a will or trust.  Contact Tobin O’Connor Concino P.C.  in Washington, D.C. or call 202-362-5900.

Source:

princegeorgescourts.org/300/Property-of-a-Minor