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The Ins and Outs of Controlling a Coverdell ESA

Be sure of exactly who controls a Coverdell ESA; know all of the ins and outs. No one wants to deal with the headache of an 18 year old discovering their education fund only to run rampant making unqualified purchases. Of course, this would not be the behavior of every college student, but it will happen to someone out there somewhere. Here are some control ins and outs for your consideration.

With a 529 plan, you can keep in complete control of the account as the account owner and can even have the value of the account refunded for your use. This is a little different with a Coverdell ESA. The responsible person (parent or guardian) must administer the account for the benefit of the child. Any money that you take out of the ESA must be for the benefit of the child. It should not be refunded to the person who established the account. Coverdell accounts are essentially an irrevocable gift.

Since the beneficiary of the Coverdell is not of age when you start contributing to the account, when the account is started an adult is named the responsible individual. This individual is typically the parent or guardian of the child. There will be policies at the financial institution you select to handle your ESA that determine the supervisory authority for the account. The responsible individual may be able to retain that authority for the life of the account. If they wish this individual may be permitted to transfer the authority to the child at age 18.

With a Coverdell ESA, the responsible individual has more control to prevent the child from using funds for non-qualified purposes than UTMA or UGMA accounts. (Uniform Transfers to Minors Act and Uniform Gifts to Minors Act) If the account is not completely empty by the time the beneficiary reaches age 30, the balance will be paid to the beneficiary in 30 days. In case of the death of the beneficiary, the account will be paid to their estate. This is unless there is an authorization from a legal representative to change the beneficiary to a surviving family member or spouse who is under the age of 30.

As the responsible party you have the control to change the beneficiary to another family member at any time as long as there was an agreement when the account was started. Then, you can change the beneficiary to another family member under 30 without having income tax and penalty. This includes anyone in your immediate family, including stepchildren or stepsiblings and cousins.

If you are the grandparent who has established this account you will not be able to change the beneficiary or have the account refunded for your use. Your choices are to name the parent, guardian or child as the responsible individual, you will more than likely not be able to name yourself. You should look to restrict the powers of the responsible individual if you do not want the parent or guardian to be able to change the beneficiary. It is understandable if you want the account to stay in the name of your named beneficiary no matter what the circumstance. In this instance, you do not have the same control of the ESA that a 529 plan would grant you. This may affect your decision on which account you select.

If you have more questions on your Coverdell ESA, talk with the providers of the account. This is a great way for parents, grandparents and children to work together to pay for future education expenses. The ins and outs of controlling a Coverdell ESA are important. It’s good to know exactly who’s in control of your money.