This conversation comes up a lot with our estate planning clients. "So, you're leaving your entire estate equally to your three kids," we say to our client. "Do you want to leave it outright or would you consider putting it in a trust for them?" The two most common responses: 

"No, my kids are all OK. They can manage money and would be insulted if their inheritance was left in trust." 

"No. If they can't manage their inheritance then I can't help them. I don't want to try to control things after I'm gone." 

Then, we explain that creating a trust is actually a good thing for the kids but it's usually hard to convince clients. So let's try it here, and then we can just hand them this article. 

Why consider a trust for your child's inheritance? It may be a real benefit to them, protecting their inheritance from their creditors, spouses, even estate taxes. Let's look at each of those concepts briefly.