Trust as Beneficiary; Special Needs Child
I have 2 minor children, 11 and 9, and the 9-year old is a special needs child who will probably need a guardian for all of his life. I have a trust set up, which includes a special needs trust, and have the trust named as beneficiary on my rollover and Roth IRAs, my current 401K, and life insurance policy. Is this enough protection for the money, or should I name the children as individual beneficiaries instead of the trust? Or, should I name them individually as beneficiaries on some, but not all of the above?
Thank you,
Debbie Corbo
Permalink Submitted by Al Fry on Wed, 2008-12-03 18:53
Are the children to inherit equally?
Permalink Submitted by Debra Corbo on Wed, 2008-12-03 19:04
Yes, but I don’t know if that was the right decision.
Permalink Submitted by Al Fry on Wed, 2008-12-03 20:12
Does your trust divide into two trusts, one for each child?
Permalink Submitted by Debra Corbo on Wed, 2008-12-03 20:22
No, it is one trust, but the special needs part is embedded.
Permalink Submitted by Jose Morales on Wed, 2008-12-03 21:03
I can’t comment on whether or not a seperate trust is needed for each child but there should be no need to name them individually as beneficiaries if you have a trust named as the beneficiary.
Permalink Submitted by Bruce Steiner on Thu, 2008-12-04 03:31
See my article on this subject in the March 2004 issue of the Estates, Gifts & Trusts Journal: http://www.kkwc.com/bio.php?r=30