Parents want their children to have more than they did. It’s a natural way of life. As a result, many create wills that grant their children inheritances. Some create trust funds and others begin to purchase bonds and assets for their children while they’re young.
What’s most important for someone like yourself is to make sure you’re protecting the inheritance you want to leave to your children. You want to guarantee that the inheritance gets to the right people and that it doesn’t get distributed to people such as ex-spouses or other family members who weren’t intended to receive anything from your death.
How can you protect your child’s inheritance?
One important thing to do is to talk to your child (or children) about the inheritance. It can be hard to discuss your possible death with your children, but it’s important to try. If your children are grown, then this is potentially the first time you’ll explain your net worth to them in an adult manner. It’s a serious discussion.
When children first learn about inheritance, they will have to think about the information. They may realize how much their parents have (or how little compared to what they believed). Parents also often have long-term goals for that inheritance in mind, but children don’t always feel the same way. This is why it’s good to sit down and talk early. Discussing how you’d like them to use the inheritance is very beneficial, even if it doesn’t end up happening that way.
Most importantly, talk to your attorney about protecting the inheritance through trusts and keeping the property separate from your children’s spouses or your own family. With the right legal documents in place, there will be no question as to who the inheritance should go to.