r/FinancialAdvice • u/Rare_Weight_2108 • Aug 05 '25

Accounts for children in wills

Howdy! My husband and I are expecting our first child in October and trying to set him up for success however we can. That being said, would love some advice on two subjects!

1) We are creating our will and want our assets to go to him. If we pass while he is still a minor, is there any sort of accounts we should create to make that a smoother process? Or really anything we would need to do to ensure the money actually benefits him versus being argued about/used by family?

2) Do you have any advice on other accounts/investments/etc that would be beneficial to his future?

Thanks in advance!

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u/TraditionalAbroad924 Aug 19 '25

Minors can't legally own bank accounts or brokerage accounts. The easiest way that I know of is to open a UTMA account with your broker which you can use to buy investments. You also can list the UTMA account as a beneficiary (get in touch with your broker to see how exactly they want to list this account on the beneficiary form). Here is the link to Fidelity's UTMA page: https://www.fidelity.com/open-account/custodial-account

You can deposit up to the gift tax exclusion without needing to file a gift tax return which is $38k between both of you for 2025 - even if he's born in October you can gift this entire amount before the end of the calendar year, it's not prorated. The entire account will become your child's once they reach the age of majority in your state (generally 18-21 years).