Broken promise

18 Jan 2026 · 1 min

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Jerry Taylor warns against relying on verbal promises to protect your children's inheritance. He describes a case where a surviving spouse rewrote a will after the promise-maker died, legally diverting the estate away from the deceased's children. A properly structured trust can prevent this by giving the spouse lifetime income while protecting the children's inheritance.

Chapters

When it comes to your kids, don't bet their future on a promise. So she made him promise, "If I die first, you got to promise to take care of my kids." Guess who died first? 3 years later, he rewrote his will and gave all his money and her money to his kids. Legally, he did nothing wrong. Morally, he better hope there's a forgiving God. In a trust, you can prevent this easily. The spouse gets the income as long as they're alive, and your kids get the protection and all that you left them. Comment blended and I'll show you how it works.