Parents or grandparents may wish to set money aside for their children/grandchildren by way of lifetime gift. For small sums, the money can be given to the child’s parent or guardian to invest on the child’s behalf. However, for larger sums a trust may be more appropriate, for reasons including:
The parent/grandparent can retain a degree of control over the trust fund by being a trustee.
Most people feel that 18 is too young an age to receive a large capital sum.
Nobody knows what the future may hold and a flexible trust allows the trustees to take account of beneficiaries’ changing circumstances and needs.
Trustee/s have the control over the assets so they can determine when the money or assets are given out. Flexibility is also good as you may have children that you may wish receive more and other children that receive less. A good example that’s unfortunately common is that you may have a son who’s really nice to his parents and lives close and does the odd job for them here and there. The parents may also have a daughter, she’s a drug user and abusive to her parents. Her parents don’t want to cut her out completely but have decided that she is to receive less money than her brother. The Children’s trust will organise this!
One of the MOST common reasons for a children’s trust is to make sure that if the parent/s died before their children become 18 years of age is that they don’t inherit as the law allows at 18 years of age but is delayed until a later stage. 21 years of age is common. Can you imagine a son or daughter who suddenly has assets of hundred’s of thousand’s of pounds and are 18 years of age. Understandably, they may blow all of it or a large chunk of it due to simply being immature.
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