Creating a will is an important step to take in life, especially if you want to make sure your assets are divided up a certain way, but you may need to carefully word your will if you have young children. Using conditional gifts on your will is a great way to help steer your children in the right direction after you die, and here are a few tips to help you as you create your will.
Your Will Should Pertain To Your Death Today
When you create your will, you should assume you might pass away soon. The purpose for this is to make sure your young children are protected if this happens. Chances are, you will probably live for a long time if you are young and healthy, but you never know. The other thing to realize is that you can update your will as often as you would like, and you may want to consider updating it every couple years.
By looking at it from this perspective, you can include details on your will to ensure your children do not receive a large inheritance at a time when they are not wise and responsible. This is something you can do by adding stipulations, such as conditional gifts.
How Conditional Gifts And Stipulations Work
If your children are young, you would want to make sure your will states that they will not be entitled to their inheritances until they are a certain age. This could be 18 years old or older, and it could even state that they cannot take the money until they are 40 years old. With this stipulation, the money they inherit will be placed in an account they cannot touch until they are a certain age.
In addition, you may also want to place conditions in your will. An example of this is stating that your children cannot receive any part of their inheritance until they graduate from college. By including this condition, your children may have a bigger incentive to attend college, and this could help them become more prosperous and successful in life.
If you choose to use conditions like this, it is important to include other details as well. For example, you might want to state that the inheritance should be donated to a certain charity if your child does not complete the condition by a certain age. Another option is to still give the child the inheritance even if he or she does not complete the condition, but the consequence will be that he or she will not receive the money until a later point in time. You can specify this point in terms of year or age of the child.
There are a lot of things you should consider when making a will that is designed to protect your kids. For more information, contact Donald B Linsky & Associate Pa or a similar company.
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