Children are a family’s greatest treasure. Think of all the precautions taken to safeguard young children – from the first purchase of an infant car seat to swimming lessons and driver’s safety instruction. Yet, most parents leave their children completely unprotected from one of life’s most crushing blows – being orphaned upon the unexpected loss of their parents.

Naming The Proper Guardian

While every parent expects to raise their children to adulthood, life may throw any of us a curve ball in the form of a fatal injury or illness. Is your family prepared? Who would you legally appoint to fulfill your parental duties? Are your assets properly protected for your children to benefit from them when they are old enough and mature enough to handle them?

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At The Law Firm of Kavesh, Minor & Otis, Inc., our attorneys can help you address these important questions to secure your children’s best interests.

Single-parent families:

If you are a single parent, the surviving biological parent automatically becomes guardian, unless proven unfit. Without proper estate planning, that parent may manage the inheritance until your children turn 18, spending it down. If both you and the other parent are deceased and there are no legal plans in place, a judge will select guardians.

Blended families:

When the children in the household may be yours, mine and ours, how do you select the guardians? Should the minor children remain together, if possible? If not, then should you make legal arrangements to facilitate their ongoing contact? And how will each spouse’s assets be split between the children?

Traditional families:

For a traditional, nuclear family, the surviving parent remains the natural guardian. However, if both parents are deceased, will the maternal or paternal side of the family raise the children? Or perhaps you would rather want your children be reared by good friends in a stable marriage who share your values and lifestyle?

Setting Your Child Up For Success

You must take great care to protect any inheritance left to your children after you name a guardian, particularly if the guardians have children of their own. Your options include:

Outright distributions:

In the absence of any legal arrangements, the laws in most states will allow the outright distribution of an inheritance when the child turns 18. Following an outright distribution, the full inheritance may fall prey to divorces, lawsuits, bankruptcies or squandering. If you worked hard to accumulate your wealth, then you may want to protect any inheritance both for your children and from them.

Staggered distributions:

Although a bit more complex, this method holds the inheritance in trust until the child meets the terms that you set. Oftentimes, parents will designate multiple distributions upon a child’s reaching certain ages or earning education degrees. Regardless, at some identifiable point, the trust share of the child is terminated and the entire inheritance is distributed to them. Contrasted with the outright distribution method, this arrangement provides increased protection from the common threats described above.

Discretionary trusts:

This protects an inheritance both for and from your child, regardless of their age. You set the terms under which the inheritance is available. This discretionary trust may even own assets for the use and enjoyment of your child and their children for generations. When the trustee determines the beneficiary is capable of managing it on his or her own, then the inheritance may be transferred to a personal asset trust that the beneficiary controls and has access to but better protects the inheritance from common threats.

Personal Asset Trusts:

Once a child receives his or her inheritance under one of the above distribution methods, it can be placed in a trust that the child has control over and access to, but which provides significantly greater protection against losing the inheritance to spouses, divorce, lawsuit, creditors and other negative events. The Personal Asset Trust is a unique, ground-breaking feature of the Kavesh, Minor & Otis estate plan.

Get Started By Contacting Us

Let our lawyers provide you with peace of mind that your child’s financial future will be secure should tragedy strike. To receive the proper guidance for making these important decisions, contact us online or call 866-402-1805 to register for a free seminar or schedule a consultation.

Do You Need To Speak With An Attorney About Estate Planning?

If you need to speak with an experienced estate planning lawyer please contact us online or call us directly at 800.756.5596 to first register for one of our free, informative seminars. Your attendance will qualify you for a special discount for our estate planning services should you decide to make a free appointment at the conclusion of the seminar and choose to proceed with us. We proudly serve clients throughout California with offices in Torrance, Newport Beach, Orange, Woodland Hills and Pasadena.

Philip J. Kavesh
Nationally recognized attorney helping clients with customized estate planning guidance for over 40 years.