2 Timothy 1:5 “I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice.  And I know that same faith continues strong in you.”

At our firm, we meet with a lot of grandmothers and grandfathers.  In my experience, grandmothers are generally more likely to want to provide something directly to their grandchildren in an estate plan.  Beyond wisdom and faith, grandmothers can enhance the lives of their grandchildren by including them as beneficiaries. 

The grandmother has two channels to bless her grandchildren.  First, she prepares her own children to be great parents!  Second, she can encourage, instruct, teach and occasionally spoil her grandchildren. Grandmothers often want to leave something directly to their grandchildren in their estate plan.  This usually takes the form of a sum of money or a family heirloom.   Gifts or bequests at death must be handled appropriately.  Indiscriminately naming a young grandchild as a beneficiary of a bank account or a life insurance policy without further instruction or control can end up costing the parents a lot of money and legal headache.

For our office, grandchildren and potential grandchildren are always included in planning.  A big part of our work with clients is discussing contingent distributions – meaning that if your first-level beneficiaries happen to die before you, where do you want their intended share to go?  For a very large majority of our clients, the ‘where’ is the children of their children – in other words, the grandchildren.

Control or management of the gift for a grandchild who is still immature is important.  It is also important to make sure there will be enough liquidity to make cash gifts without negatively impacting their other estate plan goals.  For example, one can hold shares for children for life to both protect the child from bad decisions or influences and to ensure that some wealth will eventually pass to the grandchildren.

There has been a lot of ink spilled over the dreaded Generation Skipping Transfer Tax (GSTT), which still exists at the Federal level as a means of making sure the government could get estate taxes from you AND your children when your children died!  However, due to large minimums before those taxes are imposed under current law ($15M per person in 2026), we don’t often need to work to avoid the GSTT.  Most clients are free to leave gifts of larger assets or amounts to grandchildren without fear as long as the rules for controlling and managing the distributions are clear.

An inheritance for grandchildren from their grandmothers can be a poignant gift of great benefit to both the grandchild and the children as well.  For instance, a grandmother can provide for a grandchild’s college education to relieve the children from that obligation.  Gifts like these can be an incredible generational blessing. 

Our practice helps many grandmothers (and grandfathers) set up these gifts appropriately every year.