Protect Children

It's devastating when a young child loses a parent but make sure that any assets going to the child are protected with a trust.

Anyone with a young (or immature) beneficiary really should really create a revocable living trust. The reason being is that the trust can have provisions that protect the inheritance from being wasted or destroyed. Instead, the selected successor trustee can work with the beneficiary to make sure the money is used is used wisely throughout the child's lifetime.

If a family has young children, then their revocable living trust can not only hold title to assets such as stocks and real estate but the trust can also be named as a beneficiary of such things as retirement plans (i.e. IRA's and 401k) but you should talk to an attorney first. This way, all assets going to the child are either in the trust already or directed to the trust through a beneficiary form. The successor trustee can then use all of those assets for the child's benefit.