While it seems like a simple solution to deal with your assets in the event that you pass away or become incapacitated, it can be a mistake to add children to the title of your assets.
While the basic idea is simple, it involves giving your children the title so that they are eligible to manage the assets in the event that you become incapacitated and take over these assets without going through the probate process when you pass away.
Adding children to your titled assets like a bank account, a vehicle or a house, however, can lead to serious issues. One of the primary reasons for this is that if your child who is titled on the assets causes an accident for which he or she has liability responsibility, then the assets given by you could be attached to a personal injury claim in this matter.
There is a better way to structure passing on your assets in the event that you become incapacitated or pass away. Put the title of your car, home and bank accounts into a living trust and name the child as the trustee.
This empowers you to have control over the assets until you become too sick to do so. It also eliminates some of the potentially negative issues like creditor’s being able to access the assets because your child does not actually own the assets. Instead, the trust does.
Need more advice about setting up trusts? Contact a New Jersey estate planning attorney. Setting up a consultation today could help you get started.