re: Inheritance Advice

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Outside of the yearly gift tax, if the grandparents are just using their lifetime exclusion which 99% of people would, then does the whole one check even matter? The only potential issue I see is if he doesn’t split it up properly the kids could sue him. But that’s unlikely.

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Lots of great information in the thread, thanks everyone. Let me clarify, I got two checks total, one from each grandparent, but with everyone's name on it as the payee for each.

To the point above about does it matter if it's one check, kids suing, etc. Doesn't the fact that the check was a no strings attached cash transfer just give me as the parent/guardian full rights to the money, and the children have no recourse if I just spend it all? It's not in a trust, it wasn't willed to them with stipulations, it was just a check. I cash $100 birthday checks for my kids all the time and then just transfer the money to their 529s.

I understand that there are some gift tax implications for myself whenever I do pass the money/stocks/whatever over to them in the future, but if legally speaking the money is no different than if my grandparents only put my name on the check, I would think I have all investing options open to me, right?