In all cases our will form provides that, in the event a beneficiary is a minor, the Personal Representative shall have the option to distribute the bequest to said minor as follows:

To the guardian of the minor's person or estate,

To any adult person with whom the minor resides and who has the care, custody, or control of the minor, or

To a custodian of the minor under the Uniform Transfers to Minors Act.

Our questionnaire presents you with the additional option of requiring that bequests to certain beneficiaries (or all beneficiaries) are to be held in trust until the beneficiary reaches the age you specify. Under the laws of most states, one reaches majority at age 18. Therefore, the safeguards of our standard language, quoted above, only protect assets from beneficiaries ages 17 and younger. This question gives you the ability to extend the age limit by which beneficiaries may receive unrestricted use of assets bequeathed to them under your will. If you select this option, the assets will be placed in trust under the control of the personal representative you have selected above. Also, the laws of most states require that we create a seperate document that contains the trust terms; therefore, our system creates a "trust" which is a seperate document from the will.

What happens to the assets placed in trust during the life of the trust? The trustee (Personal Representative) administers them for the benefit of the beneficiary. During the life of the trust, the trustee shall distribute so much or all of the accumulated income and principal of the trust as are reasonable to provide for the health, education, support and maintenance of the beneficiary. Once the beneficary reaches the designated age, the trustee shall distribute the remaining trust principle and accumulated income to the beneficiary free of any restrictions.

Please also be aware that creating a trust such as this will most likely require the filing of a seperate tax return for the trust and associate administrative expenses. Thus, we do not recommend the establishment of a special trust for beneficaries unless the bequest in question is of a size to warrant special administration and expenses. It is hard to give a rule of thumb on this subject, but most would agree that a bequest of under $10,000 per beneficiary is of insufficent size to warrant a seperate trust.