Why becoming a grandparent is a good reason to revisit your will, consider a trust, and think about the future of your growing family.
There's something special about becoming a grandparent. You get to hold a new baby, watch your own child become a parent, and experience the joy of welcoming another generation into your family. Suddenly, you're thinking about first birthdays, family traditions, holidays, and all the things you hope to share with this little person. You may even find yourself thinking further into the future.
Will they go to college? What kind of person will they become? Will they someday have a family of their own?
One thing you probably aren't thinking about is whether your estate plan still makes sense. Yet the arrival of a grandchild is one of those happy life events that can reveal important gaps in an older will or trust. At Vick Law, we encourage families to think of estate planning as something that grows and changes with their lives. A plan you created when your children were young may need a second look now that those children have families of their own.
Your family has changed. It's worth asking whether your estate plan has kept up.
Does Your Will Include Your Grandchildren?
Many parents create their first wills when their children are young. The instructions may be relatively straightforward: everything goes to a surviving spouse, and after both parents have passed away, the remaining estate goes to their children.
That may still be exactly what you want. However, the birth of a grandchild raises a question that many families haven't considered.
What happens to your grandchild's inheritance if their parent dies before you?
Imagine you have two adult children. Both are named to receive equal shares of your estate. One of your children has a young daughter. If that adult child dies before you, what happens to the share they would have received?
Would it pass to their daughter?
Would it be divided among your surviving children?
Would another provision in your will or trust control?
The answer depends on how your documents are written and, when the documents don't fully address the situation, the applicable inheritance laws. In Indiana, the rules governing inheritance can affect how property passes when a beneficiary dies before the person leaving the inheritance. However, those rules aren't a substitute for clearly documenting your wishes.
If you want your grandchildren to inherit a deceased parent's share, it's worth making sure your estate plan addresses that possibility.
What Happens if a Grandchild Inherits Money While They're Still a Minor?
This is where planning becomes especially important. Suppose your eight-year-old granddaughter is entitled to receive $150,000 from your estate. An eight-year-old cannot simply take possession of that inheritance and manage the money independently.
Depending on how the inheritance is structured, a court-supervised arrangement or another legally authorized method of managing the funds may be necessary until the child is old enough to receive them. Without appropriate planning, the inheritance may eventually become available to the child at an age when they have little experience handling significant financial decisions.
Think about yourself at 18.
Would you have been prepared to manage $150,000 responsibly? What about $300,000? Some young adults might handle that responsibility well. Others could struggle, particularly if the money arrives during an already difficult time following the death of a parent or grandparent. This is one reason grandparents may want to consider a trust.
A properly structured trust can provide instructions for how inherited money should be managed, who should oversee it, and when distributions should be made. Rather than leaving those decisions to chance, you can establish a plan based on what you believe will best serve your grandchild.
How Can a Trust Help Provide for Your Grandchildren?
A trust allows you to designate someone, called a trustee, to manage assets for the benefit of another person.
For a grandchild, that might mean the trustee can use trust funds for appropriate expenses such as education, healthcare, housing, or other needs while the grandchild is growing up. You can also provide directions about when the grandchild should receive money outright, if at all.
Some grandparents prefer a distribution at a particular age, such as 25 or 30. Others prefer distributions over time, allowing the grandchild to receive portions of the inheritance at different stages of adulthood. For example, a trust might provide for distributions at ages 25, 30, and 35, with the trustee able to use funds for certain needs before those ages. Another family might decide that keeping assets in trust for a longer period offers more appropriate support.
There isn't one arrangement that's right for every grandchild.
The amount of the inheritance, the grandchild's age, their circumstances, and your family's priorities should all be part of the discussion. It's also important to choose a trustee who is trustworthy, financially responsible, and willing to carry out the responsibilities involved. A trust gives you an opportunity to think beyond simply leaving money and consider how that inheritance may affect your grandchild's life.
Do You Need to Create a Separate Trust Every Time a Grandchild Is Born?
Not necessarily. Some grandparents assume they must establish and fund a separate trust immediately after each grandchild is born. That isn't always how the planning needs to work.
Depending on your goals, an estate planning attorney may recommend provisions in a will or revocable living trust that establish trusts for grandchildren only if certain circumstances occur. For example, your plan might provide that if one of your adult children dies before you, that child's share will pass into a trust for their descendants. The trust could then be administered according to instructions you've already established. This allows your estate plan to anticipate future circumstances without requiring you to predict every detail of your family's life.
A properly drafted plan may also account for grandchildren born after the documents are signed. Of course, families differ. Some grandparents want to make specific gifts to each grandchild. Others want their children to inherit first, with grandchildren receiving assets only if their parent has died.
A blended family may have additional considerations involving stepchildren, stepgrandchildren, or children from prior marriages. These are all reasons to discuss your intentions rather than assume that a standard provision will accomplish what you have in mind.
What if Your Grandchild Has a Disability or Special Needs?
The birth of a grandchild with a disability, or a diagnosis later in childhood, can make estate planning even more important. Grandparents naturally want to help provide for a grandchild's future. However, leaving an inheritance directly to a person who receives certain means-tested government benefits can create unintended complications.
Depending on the circumstances, receiving assets outright may affect eligibility for programs such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or Medicaid.
This doesn't mean grandparents cannot leave an inheritance to a grandchild with disabilities. It means the inheritance should be planned carefully.
A properly drafted third-party Special Needs Trust may allow assets left by grandparents or other family members to be managed for the grandchild's benefit without those trust assets automatically being treated as the beneficiary's available resources for certain benefits programs. The trust must be structured and administered appropriately, and the specific benefit rules matter.
A trustee may be able to use trust funds to support needs and opportunities that public benefits do not fully address, subject to applicable restrictions. Families should also consider who will make financial and healthcare decisions as the grandchild grows older.
A parent does not automatically retain legal decision-making authority for every adult child simply because that child has a disability. Depending on the individual's abilities and circumstances, supported decision-making, powers of attorney, or guardianship may be appropriate topics to discuss.
These questions can be emotional for parents and grandparents alike. No one enjoys imagining a time when they may no longer be available to help someone they love. Yet making appropriate arrangements can provide greater clarity about how that loved one may be supported in the future.
What Happens if Your Grandchild's Parent Dies Unexpectedly?
One of the hardest parts of estate planning is considering the possibility that family members may die in an unexpected order. Most grandparents assume their children will outlive them. Unfortunately, that isn't always what happens.
If an adult child dies while raising young children, the surviving family may suddenly face questions about finances, caregiving, and the children's future. A grandparent's estate plan can address what happens to that adult child's anticipated inheritance. It can provide for the grandchildren through an appropriate trust and identify someone to manage the assets. However, it's important to understand that a trust for a grandchild and a guardianship arrangement serve different purposes.
A trustee manages assets according to the trust's terms. A guardian may have legal responsibility for a minor child's care or, in appropriate circumstances, certain decisions involving an adult who needs assistance.
Grandparents generally cannot simply appoint someone to take over parental rights through their own estate planning documents. Parents should discuss appropriate guardian nominations and related arrangements as part of their own planning, subject to applicable Indiana law and court authority.
This is why estate planning can be especially valuable as a family conversation. When a new grandchild arrives, it's a good opportunity for both generations to consider whether their legal documents and financial arrangements are in order.
Should You Leave Money Directly to Your Grandchildren or to Their Parents?
There's no universal answer to this question. Some grandparents want their children to receive the inheritance and decide how best to support their own families. Others want to set aside a particular amount for grandchildren's education, housing, or future needs. Some prefer a combination.
For example, grandparents might leave the majority of their estate to their adult children while establishing separate provisions for grandchildren. Another family might use trusts that allow inherited assets to benefit an adult child during their lifetime, with remaining assets potentially passing to grandchildren later. The right approach depends on your goals, family relationships, and financial circumstances.
It's also worth considering how lifetime gifts, beneficiary designations, and existing accounts fit into the picture. A grandparent may already be contributing to a 529 education savings plan or maintaining accounts intended for grandchildren. Those arrangements should be reviewed alongside the estate plan so the overall result reflects the grandparent's intentions. An attorney can help identify where documents and beneficiary designations may need to work together.
When Should Grandparents Review Their Estate Plans?
A new grandchild is a wonderful reason to schedule a review, but it isn't the only one. Estate planning documents should be reconsidered when significant family or financial changes occur. A marriage, divorce, death in the family, birth of another child or grandchild, disability diagnosis, substantial change in assets, or change in family relationships may affect how an existing plan operates.
Even if nothing major has happened, documents created many years ago may no longer reflect your wishes.You may have named people who are no longer appropriate to serve as trustees or personal representatives. Your children may be adults now. Your family may include grandchildren who weren't born when you signed your documents.
Reviewing your plan doesn't necessarily mean starting over.
Sometimes existing documents continue to work well. Other times, relatively focused changes may address new circumstances. The important thing is to understand what your plan currently says and whether it still accomplishes what you want.
How Vick Law Can Help Grandparents Plan for the Next Generation
At Vick Law, we often meet families who have done the responsible thing by creating an estate plan years ago. They signed their wills, established a trust, or prepared powers of attorney. Then life kept moving. Children grew up. Families expanded. Grandchildren arrived. Eventually, they began wondering whether those older documents still reflected the family they have today.
That's a good question to ask.
Our Greenwood estate planning attorneys help individuals and families review existing wills and trusts, consider inheritance provisions for grandchildren, and explore planning strategies that reflect their circumstances. Depending on your goals, that may involve updating beneficiary provisions, creating trusts for younger beneficiaries, considering special needs planning, or reviewing how your estate plan addresses the unexpected death of an adult child.
We also help families understand the relationship between estate planning, elder law, and long-term care planning, particularly when grandparents want to provide for future generations while considering their own financial and care needs.
You don't need to have a large estate to benefit from thoughtful planning. For many families, the most important goal is simply knowing that the people they love have been considered and that the documents reflect their wishes.
A new grandchild brings plenty of reasons to celebrate. It may also be the perfect reminder to take another look at the plans you've made for your family's future.
Contact Vick Law to schedule a conversation about your estate planning needs.
Vick Law, P.C.
Estate Planning | Elder Law | Medicaid Planning
3209 W. Smith Valley Rd., Suite 113
Greenwood, IN 46142
(317) 884-3133
Serving families throughout Greenwood, Center Grove, Johnson County, and Southside Indianapolis.
Key Takeaways: Estate Planning After the Birth of a Grandchild
- Review your existing will or trust. Make sure your documents reflect your growing family and clearly address what happens if an adult child dies before you.
- Consider how a minor grandchild would receive an inheritance. Trust provisions may allow inherited assets to be managed until the grandchild reaches an appropriate age or other conditions are met.
- Plan for unexpected circumstances. An estate plan can address future grandchildren, the death of a beneficiary, and changing family needs.
- Take special needs planning seriously. A properly structured Special Needs Trust may help support a grandchild with disabilities while accounting for eligibility rules for certain government benefits.
- Remember that caregiving and inheritance are different matters. Trusts address asset management, while guardianship and other legal arrangements may address personal care and decision-making.
- Update your plan as life changes. Births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and diagnoses are all good reasons to revisit your estate planning documents.
Reference: Tri-State Alert (Sep. 5, 2026) “The birth of a first grandchild is quite poignant and a great time to set up a trust”
*This article is provided for general educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or establish an attorney-client relationship. Trust planning, inheritance rights, guardianship, and public benefits eligibility depend on individual circumstances and applicable la
