An inheritance is typically money given by a parent to a child when the parent passes away. This has been true forever, but some parents choose to buck the trend and give their children the money in advance.
One woman said that she did it to help her daughter buy a house. Her daughter’s family was growing and the woman had $20,000 that would make a nice down-payment on a home for the family. She decided to give it early so that it could be used when it was needed, rather than waiting until she passed away–which could be decades after the family needed a new home.
The woman also said that her own experiences helped her make the decision. When she was younger, she’d been trying to raise a child on her own, and she says she could have used more inheritance money. Instead, her own mother waited to give it to her until she passed away, as was the norm. By that point, the woman had gotten married to a man who had a good, well-paying job, so she didn’t actually need the cash.
It wasn’t that she was ungrateful for the money, but it helped her see how much nicer it was to give the money over when it was needed and when it was the most beneficial, and she wanted to do that for her own daughter.
Of course, there are risks involved with doing this, especially if financial troubles strike after money has been given away, but this can be one tactic to consider, and it’s wise to really looking into every option you have when doing estate planning in New York.
Source: The Week, “Should you give your kids their inheritance before you die?,” Libby Kane, accessed April 06, 2016