AT WHAT POINT CAN YOUR GROWN CHILDREN BE TRUSTED WITH THEIR SHARE OF YOUR ESTATE?

​A recent news item reports on a supposed trend of parents cutting back on their retirement savings to fund their grown childrens’ lifestyles.  I’m always skeptical of this kind of report, but if this is in fact a trend, it dovetails with advice I have been giving for a long time about estate planning: if your children (or grandchildren) don’t have their act together by the time they are about 30, they probably never will, so there’s no point in delaying the distribution of their share of your estate past that age.  If you don’t think they can be trusted with their share of your estate at age 30, then assume they won’t ever achieve that status, and plan accordingly.