Three Reasons Why Trust Estates Are A Good Idea For Your Offspring
When you have a lot of money, assets, property, and wealth to distribute among your children, you want to make sure they use it wisely. The best way to do that is to establish trust estates for each of your children. It does not matter at the moment if they are still too little to know what money is. The trusts are meant for their future anyway. Here are a few more reasons why setting up trusts is a good idea for your offspring.
Keeping the Wealth in the Family and for the Kids
Establishing the trusts now prevents your wealth from being distributed in ways you do not want it to be. It also prevents anyone from accessing the trusts via securing guardianship over your children should you pass away suddenly. Your wills and estate lawyers can make sure that your will and the trusts are airtight, so that no one can access the money in the trusts except for the children themselves. You can also make sure that the children cannot access the money until they reach a certain age.
Noticing Negative Patterns of Behavior and Protecting the Money
The frontal cortex in humans is not fully developed until your mid-20s. As such, your ability to reason, maintain self-control, and refrain from blowing millions of dollars in days is not entirely there before you reach that age. If you also notice negative patterns of behavior in one or more of your children, you will want to refrain from giving them lots of money when they are teenagers or very young adults. It could lead to a downward spiral. Protect the kids from themselves and protect the wealth you want to bestow on them by creating trusts that forbid their access until age "x", and then you can feel more at ease with leaving them something.
Learning Good Work Ethics and Charity First
Finally, another good reason for establishing trust estates and setting the age restrictions on these trusts is so that your children learn good work ethics first. Learning and understanding that hard work makes a difference, and knowing how hard people struggle to make their money is essential to the proper management of wealth, once you have it. It also encourages your children to become acquainted with helping those in need, and helping those who have less than they do. Then, when they receive their trust funds, they can better appreciate what you have left them.