Page 63 - Ultimate Guide to Estate Planning

result, if you do lump-sum distributions to
your children and your children commingled
those funds with marital assets, your wealth

will actually be divided between your child and
their ex-spouse (who presumably has made
your child unhappy).

You know that penny wise, pound foolish
saying? I once had a client who was worth

about twenty million dollars. He had four
children. With one of the children, he wanted
to make sure that they passed drug testing at
a few intervals before he received any

distribution for any reason. He explained to me
that this child had prior addiction issues. He
was in his late twenties. I said, "I get that." This
was about ten years ago. He said, "Do you
really understand what I'm talking about?" I
said, "Yeah. You don't want him to take his

share of the money and blow it on sex, drugs
and rock and roll. You don't want him to spend
it on drugs, primarily." He said, "No, that's not
really it." I said, "Okay, help me understand."

He explained that he was also an addict. His
addiction was to alcohol and he said, "I don't
want him to be in a worse position because of
my wealth than had I never been wealthy at
all." He understood that his wealth could be

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