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Let's say a person wanted to leave a letter and a valuable or two (stuff that would fit in a safe deposit box) to a minor child, when the child was of legal age.

Let's also say the person was dying, and wouldn't be around when the child grew up. Oh, yeah, and there were no family members other than the person and the minor child.

And let's say that the person wanted absolutely no one else to see these items.

How would they do that?

Rent a safe deposit box and prepay the rent to the child's 18th year? Could they do that? (I know you can prepay rent and arrange for the fees to be taken out of a bank account, but a bank account wouldn't be usable after the person's death, would it?)

Set up a trustee to pay the rent until the 18th year, then have the trustee contact the child? (Not my preferred method. Let's say the person really, really, REALLY didn't want to chance the trustee seeing the stuff. Can a trustee be accountable for fees only but have no access to a safe deposit box?)

Leave the stuff with a reputable lawyer, in a sealed package, and have the child contacted after the 18th birthday? How would the payment work on that?

Thanks!

~Toc

I'm not a lawyer but I do know there are different ways to do it. The first would be to seal it in a package of some sort leave instructions in your Will as to want you want done. You could set it up with whoever you trusted to hold it. A friend, the lawyer (who I'm sure would agree on a fee).

Another would be to set up a trust with a bank (if there is any money) with an executor who manages the trust. I'm sure as part of it you could have the package put in a safety deposit box and the trust would be charged for the rental of the box. Again you can set an age limit with this.

This is just the basics for exact details you'll need a lawyer or trying doing a search on the web. I'm sure the information is on it some where.

You can pretty much specify whatever you want. My father died first. The will was set up that mom got everything and then after her death the kids split evenly. However there were different personal items, jewelry, china, silver etc that she had just written down on a piece of paper as to who was to get what. As long as none of us contested it was considered a part of the will. It was in her own handwriting so that proves they were her wishes.

IANALE, but it seems like someone who really didn't want anyone to have access would need to split the parts -- perhaps two lawyers who don't know about each other? One has a sealed letter to be given to the child at the appropriate age, telling them where the safe-deposit box is. Another has a package that contains the key, but doesn't know what it's the key to. A trust pays for the safe-deposit box, but the trustee doesn't have a key and isn't authorized to request one from the bank.