Personal Investments • Opened a UTMA account for my child and no longer want them to have it. Options?

I am just concerned that he will blow this money and am concerned that he may get into drugs if he has so much money. I have seen it happen way too many times.

Thanks again everyone

I almost always defer to a parent that they know their kid best. If you have real concerns like this, you don't give them some windfall of money. I'd rather have a long shot civil suit with my son than one that has to go to rehab. This doesn't sound like a parent that want to steal their kid's money, just a parent that is trying to protect them. It's also not the usual "I'm afraid they might buy a car with it"

Some of these court cases people want to cite, it's almost exclusively in the backdrop of some nasty divorce battle that's really being waged by another parent. And there's a lot of other factors in play, like basically draining a UTMA to cover ordered child support. If your kid actually sues you (or makes serious noises he will) when he becomes an adult and wants to get in the weeds on a UTMA account, you can settle and just hand him the money and deal with them accordingly. One thing I would encourage is don't let your kid know about this money, say it's in an account for college that you control, etc (still unsure if this is all a UTMA or also a 529?) I've heard of people going into their 30's and the account is still a UTMA that hasn't been turned over. It doesn't sound like he has the attention span at this stage in life to really hash out the details.

I have seen people's lives ruined from getting a windfall at an early age, including addiction issues. But usually UTMA accounts aren't big numbers, so no idea what we're talking about. If it's "big money", I'd see an attorney and figure out legal ways to push off the age he can get a hold of it if you truly have concerns it could ruin his life.

Statistics: Posted by newparent7 — Tue Sep 16, 2025 12:16 pm — Replies 61 — Views 5787