When we draft estate plans for parents of minor children, those plans typically include a trust fund for their children. This trust fund generally is structured so that a trustee selected by the parents (typically, a trusted family member) will manage those funds for the child until the child is old enough to do so themselves (perhaps at age 25-30).

When the parents’ assets include significant traditional IRAs or other pre-tax retirement accounts that would be included in this type of trust, the parents will also want to consider using a conduit trust to minimize taxes on IRA accounts that would be held by the trust. This article explains that option.