Gifting Money to Your Children with an Early Inheritance (2024)

It turns out your son, the computer geek, hasn't been wasting all that time on the couch with his laptop after all. He's created a really cool mobile app and is now working day and night to launch his own company. Your daughter is two years away from finishing her Ph.D. in microbiology — if only she could afford the tuition.

If you're in a position to help your children financially, you may have been thinking about leaving them gifts in your will. But what about assisting with real-life needs that pop up now? Would it be more satisfying to you — and helpful to your kids — if you were able to give during your lifetime?

Give now or later?

Giving now rather than later is the preferred approach for many financially comfortable people these days. Some may want to provide more input into how the money is spent. In a 2023 survey, only 42% of adults who expect to receive an inheritance said they felt comfortable about how they would handle the money.Footnote¹

Questions to consider

"It's important to take the time and be deliberate in thinking through whether transferring some of your wealth now makes sense," says Valerie Galinskaya, managing director and head of the Merrill Center for Family Wealth™. "Think about the potential rewards and risks, not only from your standpoint, but also that of your family members," she adds. She recommends asking yourself some questions as you consider the best ways to share your wealth with family members.

Am I over-giving? "That's the top question, by far," Galinskaya says. Before you give to your children, make sure that you are not risking your own financial future. We see parents give without having set aside sufficient resources for themselves. The gift usually turns out to solve a short-term problem, but in the long run, the parents become financially dependent on their children.

If I give to one child now, must I give to all? Some of your children may prefer to wait for their inheritance, while others could benefit greatly from having the assets today. "The most effective approach to giving may vary widely from one family to the next, with different individuals having different needs," Galinskaya says. "Perceptions of fairness vary widely. If you can do so, having an open conversation with your children can forestall longer-term resentment or rifts. While the decision should be yours, getting input will clarify expectations and give you insight into the impact of your giving on your children."

The U.S. tax code makes it fairly easy to give your children money, stocks or other investments or a piece of the family business.

For instance, if your son's startup requires seed money to beat the competition to market and other investors are hard to come by, giving him his entire inheritance early might make a lot of sense. You'll get the satisfaction of seeing him invest in his future. And he won't have to defer his dream.

But consider, too, how your other children might feel about your gift and what their immediate needs are. Try to talk with everyone, and make it clear that giving now could affect how much they will receive later on, through your will and/or other estate planning instruments.

"For some people, the best approach may be to give both now and later," Galinskaya adds. "This provides you the flexibility to start small, see what your children do with these gifts and adjust your giving as you go. If you choose to leave an inheritance through your estate plan as well, you can do so with added clarity, increasing the probability that your gift will be productive."

Give now or later: The IRS doesn't care

For tax purposes, the timing of your generosity makes little difference if your family is not likely to be subject to estate taxes.

The U.S. tax code makes it fairly easy to give your children money, stocks or other investments or a piece of the family business. You can transfer up to a certain amount during your lifetime as a gift or at death through a will or revocable trust, free from federal gift and estate taxes. This federal gift tax exemption is commonly referred to as your lifetime exemption. The lifetime exemption can increase annually. It is important to note, however, that the federal gift and estate tax exemption amount is currently scheduled to significantly decrease in 2026, reverting back to a prior exemption amount, adjusted for inflation. The latest information can be found in our annual limits guide (PDF).

In addition to the amount you can gift during your lifetime, each year you can also gift a certain amount to as many people as you like without triggering gift taxes. These are commonly referred to as annual exclusion gifts; see our annual limits guide (PDF) for current figures. Annual exclusion gifts have no bearing on your lifetime exemption and won't reduce the lifetime exemption amount.

But tax considerations are only one thing to factor into your decision about whether and when to give gifts to your children. Remember, you'll also want to weigh your children's needs, the impact giving would have on your own financial situation and how it may affect family harmony if you give now to one child and later to another. "In many cases, giving now may be especially satisfying, as long as you evaluate all of the implications," Galinskaya says. "The more you're able to focus on what you want the assets to accomplish, the more your enjoyment is likely to increase."