Q: Can I make a provision in my will for an adult child who is not very responsible with money?
A: A provision in a will may not be as effective as you would like. There are other estate planning documents and instruments that may be more effective. If you don’t have confidence that your adult child will make good decisions about spending inherited money, you can put those decisions in the hands of someone else. One way to do this is by leaving the money in a trust, and appointing someone as trustee who you think will do a good job of managing the money on behalf of, or distributing the corpus of the trust to the beneficiary. Talk to an Estate Planning attorney in Virginia about your options, including a spendthrift trust.
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