Wealth, Children and Responsibility

As I discussed earlier on this blog, Brook Astor’s son is facing criminal charges stemming from mishandling his mother’s financial affairs. Many parents took his actions as a sign of warning and are now taking steps to ensure that their children do not have access to their wealth until they are able to handle it responsibly.

According to Susan Donaldson James, Parents Cut Off ‘Trust Fund Junkies’, abcnews.go.com, Nov. 29, 2007:

“When I deal with clients who are worth $50 million and up, their biggest concern is, ‘how do I not screw up the kids?'” ***

Largely bypassing his three children, Buffet gave $31 billion to the Gates Foundation in 2006, and has been quoted as saying, “Leave your children with enough money to do anything they want, but not so much that they are doomed to do nothing at all.” ***

In Brooke Astor’s day, children received large sums of money in trusts when they reached 18 or 21. Today, parents are urged to give their children money at key points in their life to encourage social and fiscal responsibility.

Special thanks to Efrain Molina Jr. (J.D. Candidate, Texas Tech University School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.