With a will, you may have authority over which of your assets will be distributed to which of your beneficiaries. While this is powerful, it may not compare to the level of power you may exercise with a trust. With this specific document, you may be very specific in your directions for how your beneficiaries will inherit your assets. This may especially be appealing to you if you have minor children who may be unequipped to handle a lump-sum payment upon your untimely death. Without further ado, please follow along to find out the kinds of conditions you can write out in your child’s trust document and how a proficient New York City trusts attorney at Zimmet Law Group, P.C., can help you exercise your control over this estate planning tool wisely.
What types of conditions can I set in my child’s trust document?
You may have significant room to personalize your trust in a way that works best for your child as the named beneficiary, so long as you keep it lawful and reasonable. Without further ado, you may consider adding the following conditions to the document, with which your appointed trustee has a fiduciary responsibility to legally comply:
- Age-based distributions: you may instruct your trustee to distribute the principal on your child’s specific birthdays (i.e., one-third at 21, one-third at 30, and the remainder at 35).
- Educational-based distributions: you may instruct your trustee to distribute once your child graduates from an accredited university, college, or technical school.
- Employment or financial incentive-based distributions: you may instruct your trustee to distribute once your child lands full-time employment, or to match the amount they earn.
- Special life event distributions: you may instruct your trustee to distribute when your child chooses to get married, purchase their first home, start their own business, etc.
Is it possible for my child to control who the trustee of their trust is?
Along with special provisions regarding inheritance distributions, you may include a clause that gives your child the right to remove and replace the trustee you initially appointed to serve the trust. Of note, your child is not automatically granted this authority;, you must include this exact language within this document.
In addition, your child cannot simply dismiss your trustee because they are unhappy with their enforcement of your distribution conditions. Rather, they must get permission from the New York State Surrogate’s Court. And then they may receive a court order if they can effectively prove the trustee’s misconduct, conflict of interest, mismanagement, or breach of fiduciary duty.
If you want to ensure you have a strong legal strategy with a reliable team in your corner, please look no further than Zimmet Law Group, P.C. A talented New York City estate planning attorney from our law firm is ready to be of any service to you.
