Leaving an Inheritance to Your Grandchildren in Virginia

Estate planning is an essential part of getting older. For many, leaving an inheritance to their grandchildren is an important part of that same process.

Many grandparents function in a parental role for grandchildren. As a result, it is common for grandparents to want to leave their grandchildren with money and assets after they pass away. But, this is only possible when you take the time and put forth the effort, during your lifetime, to create an estate plan that will actually provide for your grandchildren when you are gone.

What Happens if You Die Intestate?

If you die without an estate plan in place, referred to as dying intestate, your estate will go to your biological children, unless they are no longer living. In some cases, this can cause your grandchildren to be completely left out of the inheritance. This is why having the right estate plan in place is so important when it comes to leaving an inheritance to your grandchildren.

Wills and Trusts to Provide for Grandchildren

Whether your grandchildren are minors or adults, you can provide for them in your estate plan. One option to ensure an inheritance for your grandchildren is to create a will that designates the specific property you wish your grandchildren to receive. Once you do this, you can leave a house, financial accounts, family heirloom, or whatever you like to your grandchildren.

Another option is to create a trust with your grandchildren as the beneficiaries. Trusts are often the primary estate planning tool in cases where a grandchild is still a minor. A trust will allow you to specify how much your grandchild will receive, at what age, and over what period of time you wish this to occur.

With a trust, you can also designate a trustee to make sure that your wishes are carried out in the manner specified in the trust document. A trust is also extremely useful if you want to provide a steady source of income for your grandchildren.

A Supplemental Needs Trust For a Grandchild With Special Needs

Proper estate planning can allow you to leave an inheritance to a grandchild in such a way that would protect it from problems, like divorce, creditors, lawsuits, and bankruptcy. But, there are other issues a grandchild can face that you can prepare for with proper estate planning.

Social service programs like SSI and Medicaid, which are vital programs for disabled and special needs individuals, have stringent asset limits for their participants. Often, even a small inheritance can disqualify a participant from SSI or Medicaid.

To prevent this from happening to your grandchild, your estate plan should include contingency planning that would place the inheritance of such a grandchild inside a special trust called a supplemental needs trust. This will allow your grandchild to benefit from an inheritance, but not be disqualified from SSI or Medicaid.

Leaving an Inheritance for a Grandchild with Problems

Another thing to think about is what if a grandchild develops an addiction to gambling, alcohol, or drugs? Or what if they develop a debilitating psychiatric issue, which is not diagnosed until well into their adulthood?

In these cases, you wouldn’t want your estate to just cut that grandchild a check with no strings attached. Instead, your estate plan should have contingency planning that holds back control of an inheritance from such a grandchild. In our trusts, these are the “special distributions” clauses.

This way, your grandchild could still benefit from your estate, but with wiser minds holding the purse until that grandchild’s issues have been resolved. This type of planning is important for ensuring that your estate doesn’t do more harm than good to your family, and is something that is difficult to accomplish with a simple will.

Consult with an Experienced Virginia Trust and Estate Planning Attorney

To learn more about how to craft an estate plan that will provide for and protect your grandchildren, call our law firm today at (703) 553-2577 or use the contact form to schedule an initial appointment with an experienced Virginia trust and estate planning attorney.

We will do most of the work for you. This way you can be confident that your will or trust is executed correctly and will do what you intend it to do for your grandchildren.

The information on this site is for general informational purposes only. The information presented in this site is not legal advice or a legal opinion. You should seek the advice of legal counsel of your choice before acting upon any of the information in this site.