Parent dies. Life insurance pays out. The kids are named as beneficiaries. Nobody can touch the money. Not the surviving parent, not the grandparent raising the kids. In Florida, a minor cannot legally receive and control money outright, and most families don’t see this coming until they’re already standing in the courthouse.
In this week’s Ask Jill, Jill walks through what happens when a minor inherits more than $15,000 in Florida (section 744.301), why a guardianship of the property ends up running for years, and why the default rule — the child gets every dollar outright at 18 — is the number no parent would pick on purpose.
- Why the $15,000 cap under Fla. Stat. 744.301 forces most inheritances into court
- What a guardianship of the property actually looks like: bond, restricted account, annual accountings, court approval to spend
- A Michigan appellate case where a father tried to fix it too late and lost control to an independent guardian
- How a trust built into the parents’ estate plan avoids the entire problem
- The beneficiary designation trap that quietly undoes good planning
Homework: pull up your beneficiary designations. If a minor child is named directly, that’s the problem sitting there waiting.