How to Pass Down A Large Inheritance and Not End Up With a Spoiled Beneficiary

							How to Pass Down A Large Inheritance and Not End Up With a Spoiled Beneficiary

Knowing that you are in a position to leave behind enough money to provide for your loved ones when
you die is a wonderful feeling. However, it can also be the source of concern though because handing
over a large sum of money to someone can create as many problems as it solves. If you want to provide
for a loved one without spoiling him or her, consider utilizing some of the following estate planning
steps and tactics:

   1. Don’t advertise what you are worth. Your loved ones probably have some idea what your estate
      is worth, but there is no need to confirm this. The less they know, the better for estate planning
      purposes.
   2. Don’t give away details of your estate plan. Again, your loved ones may have some idea who will
      inherit from you when you die, but you are certainly not obligated to tell anyone how much they
      will be inheriting. Telling someone ahead of time can result in the beneficiary just sitting around
      waiting to inherit their inheritance instead of becoming a productive member of society. We
      call these people professional “wait-ers”.
   3. Make use of trusts. A trust is an excellent estate planning tool for many reasons. You have the
      ability to appoint a trustee who will continue to oversee the trust funds and monitor the
      beneficiary long after your death so choose your trustee wisely.
   4. Consider creating a specialized trust such as an educational trust or an incentive trust. These
      trusts allow you to tie the disbursement of trust assets to productive endeavors such as the
      completion of a higher education degree or the success of a small business.
   5. Don’t give away all the inheritance all at once. Even relatively mature and financially responsible
      people can react poorly when handed a large sum of money all at once. The temptation is often
      too strong to go out and blow at least some of the money. To prevent his from happening, use a
      trust to stagger disbursements over a number of years. Start with a small disbursement and
      gradually increase the amount the beneficiary receives over the years. Not only does this give
      the money time to increase in value but it gives the beneficiary time to get acclimated the new
      wealth.

Experienced estate planning attorneys St. Louis MO of the Purcell and Amen, Attorneys at Law – Your
Estate Matters, LLC offers estate planning and business planning resources to residents of St. Louis MO.
To learn more about these free resources, please visit http://www.yourestatematters.com today.