As the costs of undergraduate and postgraduate education continue to rise, families are tasked with securing and allocating financial resources to pay for their children’s education. Grandparents are also recognizing this financial challenge and are creating plans to help their grandchildren achieve this goal. For both parents and grandparents wishing to contribute, the college planning process can be difficult to navigate.
The person to whom property or power is entrusted for the benefit of another is a fiduciary. A few examples of fiduciary roles include trustee of a trust, executor under a will, or guardian for an incapacitated person. The law imposed upon fiduciaries requires them to act in the best interest of the beneficiaries they serve. This duty imposes a high standard of care upon fiduciaries.
Uncomfortable conversations about wealth occur within families on a regular basis. If you struggle with how to talk to your own family about your wealth, you’re not alone. If there were ways to prepare one’s family for the inheritance without mentioning financials, the exact details of the estate plan, and you could begin when the heirs are younger, then more families would probably be willing to have these conversations.
