Inheritance planning attorneys generally find that people can come to terms with their own mortality, but as parents and grandparents we develop a firmly embedded sense of responsibility to our families. The thought of no longer being around to provide help in whatever way it may be needed can be the most difficult thing to get past when you are contemplating the inevitable.
This can be especially troubling if you have someone that you love that would seem to be capable of burning through his or her inheritance much too quickly. You won’t be around to provide a safety net so this can certainly be a legitimate source of concern.
If you were to have such a situation on your hands there are steps that you can take to keep that safety net in place for the long-term. One possibility would be to fund a spendthrift trust for the benefit of your heir.
Very simply put, with these trusts you decide on how you would like the resources meted out to the beneficiary. The trustee will handle this and administer the principal. These assets are protected from the creditors of the beneficiary and the beneficiary will not be able to touch the principal or direct investments on behalf of the trust.
This is one possibility but there other courses of action that can be taken as well, such as the creation of an incentive trust designed to encourage certain types of positive behavior or discourage self-destructive actions.
There is no one way to plan an estate, and there are various different courses of actions that can be taken depending on the circumstances. Solutions exist, and with the proper legal advice you can construct an estate plan that serves the interests of each of your family members ideally.
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