What Happens When a Minor Inherits Money in Florida?

Parents jointly are the natural guardians of their minor children, and if one parent dies, the surviving parent remains the sole natural guardian. The authority to handle estate or trust distributions without appointment applies only if the amounts received in the aggregate, including those distributions and the settlements, insurance proceeds and benefit plan payments counted under the same natural guardian rule, do not exceed $15,000. A natural guardian may not, without a court order, use the child's property for the guardian's own benefit or to satisfy the guardian's own support obligation to the child.

A court may appoint a guardian for a minor on petition of a parent, brother, sister, next of kin or other person interested in the minor's welfare, without the incapacity adjudication used for adults. A guardian appointed for a minor, whether of the person or of the property, has the authority of a plenary guardian.

Estates and trusts may use a custodian. A personal representative or trustee may make an irrevocable transfer to a custodian under the Florida Uniform Transfers to Minors Act when the will or trust authorizes it. Without that authorization, the transfer may be made only if the fiduciary considers it in the minor's interest, the governing document does not prohibit it, and a court authorizes any transfer exceeding $10,000 in value.

Which route fits depends on the amount and on what the will or trust says. Planning ahead for a child's guardian is covered in naming a guardian for minor children.