When Should Your Child Receive Their Inheritance?
- Davies Law Office
- Aug 14
- 3 min read
If you have children under the age of 18, you should think carefully about when your child should receive full control of their inheritance. With age comes wisdom, and many young people may not be ready to handle hundreds of thousands of dollars dropping into their bank account. You may be wondering: at what age will my children be ready to manage all the assets that I might give to them?
The Legal Starting Point
In Washington State, children typically cannot legally manage assets until they turn 18. Until then, any inheritance is managed by the conservator of their estate, often someone you'd appoint in your estate plan. But once your child turns 18, they become a legal adult and can manage their inheritance without a conservator’s oversight.
But just because they can doesn’t mean they should.
Is 18 Too Young to Inherit?
Imagine yourself handing your child $100,000 in cash on their 18th birthday. Your child might use that money wisely—they may decide to launch a business, pay for higher education, or invest their funds wisely. Or they might spend it impulsively, be fooled into bad deals, and, by the time they turn 19, be left with nothing. Sudden influxes of cash are hard for anyone to handle (just ask lottery winners), and they’re especially challenging for young people with less life experience.
That’s why many parents choose to delay full access to the inheritance by adding a minor’s trust to their estate plan.
How Trustees Protect and Provide for Your Child
When you set up a trust for your child, you appoint a trustee—someone whose job is to manage and protect the inheritance until your child reaches the age you’ve chosen to give them full access.
But that doesn’t mean the money is locked away and untouchable.
The trustee can distribute funds as needed, based on a legal guideline called an ascertainable standard. This standard ensures that the money is used for meaningful, supportive purposes—not just anything your child wants.
Here’s what that includes:
Health – Medical care, health insurance, or anything related to physical or mental well-being.
Education – Tuition, books, school supplies, or vocational training.
Maintenance – Everyday living expenses like rent, food, clothing, and transportation.
Support – Anything that helps your child maintain a reasonable standard of living.
This standard—often referred to as HEMS (Health, Education, Maintenance, Support)—comes from IRS guidelines and is widely used in trusts to balance protecting your child from overspending while still giving your child access to money they need.
In short, the trustee:
protects the inheritance from being spent recklessly.
provides access to funds when your child genuinely needs them.
make judgment calls based on your child’s best interests and the rules you’ve set forth in the trust.
This approach gives your child the support they need while helping them grow into the responsibility of managing their inheritance wisely.
Using a Minor’s Trust
A minor’s trust allows you to set age milestones for when your child receives shares of their inheritance. Common choices include:
Age 25: at this age, your child is likely well on their way to launching their career.
Age 30: at this age, your child has much more life experience and financial maturity.
(Some parents even choose to hold assets for their child’s lifetime. The bottom line is: You know your children and you decide at what age you think (hope) that they would use their inheritance wisely.
You do not need to give full access and control at one age. You can also give your child control over a portion of their inheritance once they reach certain milestones. This strategy is called tiered distribution. Just as an example, you could leave your child ½ of their inheritance at age 25—give them a chance to use or lose that money, even “learn the hard way,” if necessary, about the importance of managing their finances wisely. Then, you can give the other ½ of the inheritance at age 30.
Final Thoughts
When deciding on inheritance timing, ask yourself:
At what age were you ready to manage significant money?
When would a financial boost have helped you most?
When might you have benefited from protection against impulsive decisions?
By reflecting on these questions, you can create a plan that supports and safeguards your child’s future.
Need help setting up a minor’s trust in your estate plan? Reach out to our team—we’re here to guide you every step of the way. Contact us at 425-440-3494 or office@dlolawgroup.com
