Your estate plan can be intentionally structured to delay an inheritance. If you believe that it would be best for a certain beneficiary to receive their inheritance long after you pass away, you can plan in advance to ensure that this happens.
This approach generally will not happen if you use a standard will. You can select beneficiaries and give them certain assets in a will, but that distribution happens during probate. This process occurs in the weeks or months after you pass away. If you would like to delay a distribution further, you likely need to take additional steps.
Setting up a trust
For example, perhaps you are naming beneficiaries and you get to one of your grandchildren. They are still a minor, perhaps a high school student. You are worried that if you pass away in the next few years, they could still be underage. Even if they are a legal adult, they may just be 18 or 19 years old.
To delay their inheritance, one option is to set up a trust. You’ll still name them as a beneficiary, as you would in your will. But you also choose a trustee to be in charge of the distribution of the funds. In this scenario, the beneficiary wouldn’t be able to access the money unilaterally.
While creating a trust, you’ll give that trustee explicit instructions about when to allow the beneficiary to use the money. You could set it up so that they get 50% of their inheritance at 25 and the other 50% at 30 years old, for example. The exact terms will be up to you.
This is just one way to use a trust in your estate plan. Take the time to carefully look into all of your legal options. That way, you can feel confident about whatever approach you ultimately choose.