Suzanne Jones chats to The Age about early inheritances for first home buyers

‘The bank of Mum and Dad’ is a term often used to describe parents’ financial assistance to their children to buy a house. As first home buyers face growing costs to borrow money from lenders, the ‘bank of mum and dad’ now ranks among the top 10 lenders in Australia. Last week the Reserve Bank of Australia handed down its 12th interest rate hike since May last year in a bid to tackle persistently high inflation.

While gifting money to adult children enables parents to understand how their bequest will be used, and gives them the opportunity to offer advice, many worry the financial gift would be split in the event of their child going through a relationship breakdown.

Suzanne Jones, Partner and Head of Estate Planning at Coote Family Lawyers, tells The Age “In that case we suggest a binding financial agreement if their child is already in a relationship or, potentially, a loan agreement with a 10- to 15-year payback with interest payable on some of the capital".

The article is available to read in The Age Newspaper on 21/06/23 or online here "More first home buyers pressuring parents for early inheritance"

If you are thinking of gifting your child money towards their first home call Coote Family Lawyers for advice on 03 9840 0035.

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