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concervatorship for a minor heir?

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Y

ymmy

Guest
Hello from Colorado.
Brief history: My mother died. There are 6 living heirs, and one deceased. The deceadant heir has 3 children who will split his seventh share. Of those three, 1 is a minor child age 12 whose mother is a drug addict and homeless. This minor is receiving SS benefits for his fathers death and mom is just spending it on dope (she does feed the child but he does not get dental visits, etc.)
Question:Can we set up this childs inheritance under a conservatorship?? Is this the best way to protect his inheritance?
I am grateful for any help. Thank you
Yvonne
[email protected]
 


A

advisor10

Guest
JUNE 11, 2001

DEAR YMMY:

A conservatorship would not be the correct term, since that is used only for a person (such as an sick or infirm person) who entrusts his care to someone else who is responsible for paying his medical expenses and taking care of other financial matters for that person.

You should think about contacting the trust department of a local bank and having the money set up in a trust fund for this minor. You could name someone in the family as a trustee (or the bank could assign one of their people to manage and oversee the mangement of this money until the child becomes old enough to receive it as an adult), and this way the mother (even though she might know about the money) would legally be prevented from being able to get her hands on it. What is this child's share of the estate?

I am also concerned about the welfare of this child. If you think his mother is severely and adversely being affected by the dope use, then you should consider reporting this to the proper child welfare authorities. Perhaps he would be better taken care of by someone else.


SINCERELY,

[email protected]
 
Y

ymmy

Guest
thank you for info

Dear Advisor,

I am truly surprised that we would be allowed to put his share (somewhere between $8-10k) into a trust. I was under the impression that as his mother, she would have a say so. Your answer seems to say that she cannot contest the trust??

I do thank you for your time.
Yvonne
 
A

advisor10

Guest
JUNE 16, 2001

DEAR YMMY:

The purpose of you setting up the trust is so that CONTROL of the trust goes to the person you name as trustee (You, or whoever you name to be trustee). The trustee is the only person that can write checks whenever you son becomes of legal age.

His mother WILL NOT be able to get money out of this account. Only the son can get this money when he becomes an adult. His mother might possibly need to be informed or notified about the existence of the account, but there is no legal way she can get access to it as long as the trustee is in charge. You might also need to know the son's SSN and address and possibly they might ask for the mother's address and phone number, I'm not sure. They may even be able to keep it completely confidential where the mother doesn't even have to know about the existence of the trust account.

Any questions you have about the mother's access can be answered by the employees in the bank trust department whenever you set up the account. If you find out that she would be able to access the account, then don't have it done at the trust department and let me know so I can try to find an alternative option.

SINCERELY,

[email protected]
 

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