Use a revocable living trust when you have spendthrift children with alcohol or addiction issues

Use a revocable living trust when you have spendthrift children or children with alcohol or addiction issues.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Chrissy while we're talking about revocable living trust, let's go ahead and give another example of where they are sometimes used, and that is if you have spendthrift children. They're adults but they're spendthrifts, or you've got adult children who have addiction issues. Folks, believe me, that's more common than you might ever believe. So don't be ashamed, it's quite common out there. It's just a fact of life in this day and age.

Attorney Chris Merrill: Exactly. We want to help those families because a Trust is a tool that can absolutely help the entire family.

Attorney Tom Olsen: If you have spendthrift children or children with addiction issues, drugs and alcohol, as you know it would not be wise to leave that child their share of your wealth outright because they're going to blow right through it and possibly do harm to themselves. That would be another situation where we would use a revocable living Trust. Their share would stay in your Trust to be managed by whoever you choose, your successor trustee, brother, sister, friend, neighbor or trusted advisor to be the trustee, and then they would dole that money out to your spendthrift child or child with addiction over a number of years, possibly over the rest of their lifetime.

Attorney Chris Merrill: Exactly. Certainly, you're right, Tom, is that it can often be a family member such as even a niece or a nephew.

Attorney Tom Olsen: If we're going to do a revocable living trust for you because you have adult children that have spendthrift issues or drug or alcohol addiction issues, and again, it's quite common, we run across it on a regular basis. In that situation, your successor trustee does not have to give the money directly to your adult child. Your successor trustee can pay money directly to pay their rent; keep a roof over their head, pay their cell phone so they can continue to be in communication; give them a weekly allowance so they can go down and buy groceries; pay their electric bill directly. All of the things that might be done to keep your child safe but still keep a roof over their head, and electricity on, and a mobile phone.

Attorney Chris Merrill: Absolutely. Tom, I think that's a great point.