Setting up a testamentary trust for a child under a certain age is a common estate planning tool. The age sometimes varies, but the goal is usually the same; protect a loved one’s shares until they are at an age when they can manage it themselves.

A reader wrote recently to the business columnist at NWI with a common question: “My will says that my son’s share is held in trust until he is 25. What if he is married by 23 and has a baby? Does he still have to wait until he is 25 to get the money?” The reply was somewhat simplistic, I thought, explaining that perhaps it would be good to give the trustee wide discretion to distribute funds out of and terminate a trust established for your children. Certainly, a testamentary trust of this sort that distributes funds outright to the…

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