When a child is young, a key estate planning decision parents often make is to determine a guardian. If your child is now an adult, however, a guardian may no longer be relevant, but new considerations arise: Is your child married? Is your child financially responsible? Are you leaving assets to your children in a trust? Have your children had children of their own?
How does your trust distribute assets?
Many trusts are designed to distribute assets to children at certain ages, e.g., one-third at age 25, one-half of the remaining assets at age 30, and the remaining balance at age 35. If a child is now above one or more of these ages, they will receive distribution of part or all of the trust assets outright and free of trust upon the last to die between you and your spouse. Now that your child is older, you may feel differently about their ability to handle a large inheritance; for example, you may feel that large sums might not be spent in the most prudent manner if they are free of restrictions. Further, if the child is married, an inheritance can easily be commingled with the spouse's assets, possibly subjecting the distributed trust assets to equitable distribution upon a divorce. An inheritance free of trust will also be subject to any existing or future creditor claims. These are some of the factors you may wish to consider when reviewing your estate plan to determine if it still meets your needs.
What're your current wishes?
Furthermore, in many cases, outdated estate plans are simply not consistent with current wishes or circumstances. For example, it is possible that one child within a family has been financially successful while another has not. When an estate plan is initially created, an equal amount of inheritance among children may have been the goal, but that may have changed over time. Also, in some cases, beneficiaries named on retirement accounts and life insurance policies may not be in line with the trusts created for children under a will or revocable trust. It is vital to revisit all the ways assets are being left to children, given their current age and maturity, to make sure the plan still matches the current intent.
What do your adult children need on their own?
Lastly, when children are minors, they do not typically need health care powers of attorney, living wills, or advance health care directives, since their parents or guardians are legally responsible for them. But once they become adults, they should consider having these important documents in their own right.
Periodically review the ways that assets will be left to your children, and encourage them to have the appropriate estate planning documents in place as they get older and their circumstances change.