Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Illinois
Protecting assets from one person who is alcoholic
I have four sons, our daughter died last year of alcoholism
Our eldest son is an active drinker and user of drugs. We would like to put his portion of our estate into some kind of separate category in our will. We have an ordinary will that upon our death the sons get equal shares. But, we would like to know if there is any way we can safeguard his portion in a trust. I don't want any more money or help given to assist the active alcoholic. Nor would we ever cut him out of the will. What should we do? Ours is a modest estate. They would probably each get $100,000.
Thank you for your reply.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Protecting assets from one person who is alcoholic
You can certainly establish a trust, with whatever restrictions you feel are appropriate.
Re: Protecting assets from one person who is alcoholic
A trust will allow the person who is appointed the trustee to determine, in his discretion, whether funds that the trust allocates to your son, should be given to him directly, paid on his behalf, or withheld altogether for future use.
For instance, the trustee could make payments on your son's behalf, directly to a medical provider, pay for his rent, etc., without having the money going to your son. This would lessen the chance that the money would be used for alcohol.
Please discuss this further with an estate planning attorney. This type of trust will only provide the protection you are seeking if it is properly drafted.
Good luck to you.
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