fbpx
Schedule Your Appointment - Fill Out the Form Below
Skip to content
The Law Office of Antoinette Bone, PLLC
  • Home
  • Practice Areas
    • Estate Planning
      • Estate Planning FAQs
      • Asset Protection
      • Ethical Wills
      • Special Needs Trusts
      • Special Needs Resources
    • Probate
    • Guardianship
  • Our Firm
    • Attorney
    • Speaking Opportunities
    • Firm Overview
  • Getting Started
  • Videos
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Gallery
  • Contact
  • Careers
817-462-5454

What Do Drugs and Estate Planning Have in Common?

Posted on March 28, 2019 | by abone

A 3-Step Guide to Planning for a Troubled Adult Child

 

The Opioid crisis is all over the news.  Families are being destroyed and people are dying. It’s not just Opioids causing problems. In places like Colorado where recreational use of marijuana has been legalized, emergency room doctors are seeing more people coming in due to the ingestion of too much cannabis in the form of edibles.  If drugs are not the source of a family member’s addiction, it may be alcohol.  Maybe your child is impacted by mental illness or seems to keep getting into abusive relationships.  In all of these situations, you are probably concerned about how your adult child will be impacted by receiving an inheritance and what they will do with the money you worked so hard to earn.

 

Estate planning can pose extra challenges for families with adult children struggling with addiction, marital issues, or irresponsibility with money. The last thing you want is for your wealth to end up having a negative impact on your child, or to see them squander their inheritance. Many parents are concerned about what they can do to shield an adult child who struggles with problems like these from bad decisions and bad people that could worsen their child’s situation.

 

This is often a hidden issue within estate planning conversations.  It’s a sensitive topic that can bring up painful memories or emotions.  Some parents are apprehensive to discuss their troubled adult children with friends or colleagues because of its private nature and potential for judgment from those outside the family.

 

While these conversations may be difficult to have, they are crucial to ensuring that your wishes are carried out the way you want. It is important to put your trust in your estate planning attorney knowing that they have both you and your troubled adult child’s best interests in mind. Only when your estate planning attorney is aware of the situation can they work to craft the best possible plan for your family while taking your unique challenges into account.

 

Step #1:  Determining what works for you

First, understand that what works for your family doesn’t necessarily mean an identical plan for each of your children. I know often times parents want to treat their kids equally but that is not always wise.  It’s okay to craft your plan to work differently for each beneficiary depending on their unique path through life.  As part of the planning process, you are going to have to initiate a frank discussion with your estate planning attorney about any issues concerning your adult children.  The worst course of action is to pretend the issue isn’t there or that it will somehow resolve itself. Bringing these factors to light can only improve the situation and help you create the best possible plan for your family.

 

Step #2: Mitigate risk with a tailored plan Create a tailor-made plan to mitigate risk

A lifetime trust can be a great solution to prevent an inheritance from making a troubled child’s situation worse.  Lifetime trusts spread distributions over the course of your beneficiary’s entire life, significantly reducing the risk that they waste their entire inheritance on harmful substances, irresponsible spending, or contentious divorce proceedings. Lifetime trusts keep your wealth out of the hands of the probate and divorce courts and ensure that the assets contained in the trust stay in the family even after a divorce.  If you don’t already have the benefits of lifetime trusts written into your estate plan (or simply aren’t sure), we can review your current plan to make sure that it is customized to optimize your child’s long-term security and well-being.

 

Step #3:  Ongoing support

I know most people think about getting their estate planning accomplished as a one and done deal.  However, like the constitution, estate planning documents, particularly trusts are “living and breathing” documents.  They may be amended as your family’s situation changes.  Once we have a plan in place to protect all members of your family, part of your long-term planning goals should include periodic contact your estate planning attorney, your financial advisor, and your family to make sure the plan continues to work as intended. You can rely on your financial advising and estate planning professional team to answer any questions that arise and make any necessary changes as time goes by. Staying in touch frequently means that your plans stay up to date and will continue to further your goals for your family.

 

If you would like further information or assistance, please contact Hurst-Euless-Bedford, Texas Estate Planning and Elder Law Attorney, Antoinette Bone, at (817) 462-5454 , email info@abonelaw.com, or click here to go ahead and set an appointment :

Schedule an Appointment Now

 

To comply with the U.S. Treasury regulations, we must inform you that (i) any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this newsletter was not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, by any person for the purpose of avoiding U.S. federal tax penalties that may be imposed on such person and (ii) each taxpayer should seek advice from their tax advisor based on the taxpayer’s particular circumstances.

Nothing in this message is intended to provide legal advice.  This message is for educational purposes only.

 

Posted in Adult Children, Estate Planning, Trusts

Post navigation

Are You Keeping Up with the Kardashians? Planning for Blended Families Part 2
Include These 5 Things in Your Estate Plan

Categories

Archives

  Thank you for Signing Up

Join Our Newsletter

Please complete this form to create an account, receive email updates and much more.
  Please correct the marked field(s) below.
Contact Email  *
1,true,6,Contact Email,2
First Name 
1,false,1,First Name,2
Last Name 
1,false,1,Last Name,2
*Required Fields

Get In Touch

We believe that your call should be returned within 24 hours.


800 N. Industrial Blvd., Suite 106
Euless, TX 76039

Phone: 682.428.3046
Email: info@abonelaw.com
Driving Directions:

While my address is Industrial Blvd, we are actually on Clinic Drive. Look for the tall red Super Value Pharmacy sign. Whether coming from the North or the South, you will turn off of Industrial Blvd. onto Clinic Dr. Our building is located up the hill just past the Super Value Pharmacy at the far end of the building.

Office Hours

Mon-Thurs8:30am-5:00pm
FriBy Appointment Only
Sat/SunClosed
Leave A Review
© 2023 The Law Office of Antoinette Bone, PLLC | A Website Design by Ahrens Technologies

DISCLAIMER: Material presented on The Law Offices of Antoinette Bone, PLLC website is intended for information purposes only. It is not intended as professsional advice and should not be construed as such. If you communicate with us through this site or otherwise in connection with a matter for which we do not already represent you, your communication may not be treated as privileged or confidential and does not create an attorney-client relationship between you and the firm. If you communicate with us by e-mail in connection with a matter for which we already represent you, please remember that Internet e-mail is not secure and you should avoid sending sensitive or confidential Internet e-mail messages unless they are adequately encrypted.