I've just turned seventeen, I'm living at boarding school in Louisiana. My legal guardian is now my grandmother, but I'm wondering what will happen in terms of inheritance. My parents will stated that everything will come to me, according to my grandmother, but does this work since I'm under eighteen? My parents were residents of New York. I don't want to seem like I'm money hungry, it's more that I'm unsure of what happens to me now.

Hello F:

Even though the money might be destined to become yours, your parents may have set up some restrictions... They may require the money be put in trust and dolled out to you in a certain fashion, or they may just give it all to you now.

It really depends on the will and/or any trust agreements they have.

I'm sure you can get a copy of the will. I'd sure want one if I was you.

excon

Have your parents passed away ?
But it would be done according to the will, and if no will controlled though the probate court but perhaps put into a trust for you till you are 18

Um, yeah, they died almost two weeks ago. I don't know what the will said, there was a reading but Grandmother didn't want me there. She made the comment afterwards that they left it to me. Will I be allowed to see it if I'm not 18 yet?

First, my condolences on your loss. Yes, as beneficiary under the will you are entitled to see it. Your grandmother was wrong in not allowing you at the reading and I'm surprised your parents attorney allowed it.

Contact the attorney and ask for a copy or, at least a synopsis. I suspect your parents had a significant estate. So its very likely the estate is being held in trust.

Thanks for that. I rang up and they kind of hedged for a while, but I got onto the guy. Apparently there's no trust, it's just all 'going to me'. I know they didn't expect anything like this, so maybe it was easier to do it that way. Now I'm just worried about other stuff. Like... what happens to it all now? Does it just go straight into accounts, or do I have to do stuff? I can't really ask the attorney, he was sort of weird on the phone. Like he thought I was money-grubbing. I'm not, I just worry. Grandmother isn't the most reliable person, and I at least want to make sure I can pay my school fees and college and stuff.

Ok, you NEED to talk to the attorney. You need to find out who the executor of the estate is.You need to understand what is in the estate. It may not be all liquid cash. There may be stocks, bonds other investments, etc. I'm sure there is a family home that may have a mortgage that has to be paid.

The executor of the estate will be responsible for managing the estate until the assets can be turned over to you. This would include paying your school fees, and other expenses. You may also need to hire a financial advisor to help you deal with this. Do you have any idea how large the estate is and what it consists of?

Is there someone at your school you trust? Maybe an economics teacher who can help you understand these things? You should be approaching the attorney and grandma with the tack that you just want to protect your future.

I really sympathize with you. You just lost both your parents suddenly and now you have to deal with the continuation of your life with little help.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

Ok, you NEED to talk to the attorney.

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Hello again, F:

Not only do you need to talk to THAT attorney, I think you need one of your own.

You sound like a mature young man. However, you've just been through a devastating event. Not only that, you're about to go through still another life changing event. Good guidance at this point, would be invaluable.

A good sized chunk of cash can be used as a springboard for ALL the good things life has to offer. Without good financial advice, many 17 year olds, who have a lot of money dumped in their laps, have nothing left by the time they're old enough to drink.

excon

I totally agree with excon, but there is one more issue here. Since you are under 18, you cannot legally enter into a contract. That means Grandma, as your legal guardian, has to sign everything. She may even have to approve your retaining an attorney and financial advisor. You should be pushing her to do so. If you show her you are just trying to protect your future, that should help.

And you do need to not get greedy. I don't know what type of allowance you were getting. I assume the school was providing room and board, but you were getting some allowance for spending money. I would not ask for anything more then you were getting.

You just want to make sure the executor is paying the school fees and providing your spending money. You have another year to understand the estate and plan out college. So after you have covered your immediate needs, you can slow down and understand your inheritance.

And please keep us posted. If you have any questions or want confirmation of what your advisors tell you, we'd be happy to comply.

Yeah, I don't really need any money right now. I don't have to pay for anything at school and I've saved my allowance for a while. I don't have a lot to spend it on, really. So I talked to one of my friends Dads and he's going to help me out. He's an attorney here so that will be good. Thanks for your help and support, everyone. It's been a weird few weeks.

That sounds great. Please keep us posted as you find out more. Good luck to you.

I thought I'd start by saying thank you to everyone who helped me out on this one, and just let you know that things are a bit more settled. My grandmother has approved my friend's Dad as my attorney and he's handling it all for me. Basically, as it turns out, everything is in my name, nothing really needs to be signed unless I decide to rent property out and stuff, which I'm not going to do. I'm planning to wait until I AM 18 before I decide, on his advice: to just let it settle.

For me, nothing really changes. I stay here at school: my fees here were paid until the end of this school year, and after that Grandmother said she'd pay herself.

The only thing that really changes is how many 'new friends' I have all of a sudden, lol. Yeah, I'm not so stupid I can't see through that one.

Thanks again everyone!

Thanks for letting us know. I'm real happy for you. I'm glad this turned out OK.

I gather you now understand what assets you have. Did you discuss filing a tax return for this year? That MAY be necessary. I would still insist that you get regular reports of the status of your assets. You might start with monthly and then cut back to quarterly. This way you will understand how the assets perform and operate so you can make better decisions on your own in the future.