Restricted Accounts and Annuities for a Child's Settlement in Kansas

By the FigureMyTax Editorial Team · How we calculate

Under Kansas law, a child's settlement made without a court must be paid into a restricted savings or investment account, or used to buy an annuity with the child as sole beneficiary. The account can be reached only by court order, at majority or on death.

How the money is paid

If an attorney represents the person settling and the money is paid by cash, check or direct deposit, it goes into the attorney's trust account, and the attorney must timely deposit it directly into a restricted savings or other restricted investment account that allows withdrawals only as the statute permits, or buy an annuity by direct payment to the issuer with the minor as sole beneficiary (K.S.A. 38-152(c)). Without an attorney, the person gives the payer the information to pay into such an account or annuity directly.

When it can be withdrawn

Money in the account may not be withdrawn, removed, paid out or transferred to anyone, including the minor, except by court order, when the minor reaches the age of majority or is otherwise emancipated, or on the minor's death, when the balance goes to the payable-on-death beneficiary or under the probate code (38-152(d)).

Children in state custody

If the minor is in the custody of the state, the secretary for children and families sets up a restricted interest-bearing trust account or subaccount for the money, with notice of deposit given to the minor and the person settling.

Annuities

The trade-off is predictability and protection against spending everything at once, against less flexibility if needs change. The statute allows the purchase of an annuity premium to count within the $25,000 net limit.

What we did not find

We did not read the rules for a conservatorship or a court-approved settlement above $25,000, or the new guardianship act that a secondary source says took effect January 1, 2026. Ask the court what it will require. Then read why and when a court gets involved and what we found about attorney fees, and see what is left in the Kansas minor's settlement calculator.

This is general information, not legal advice, and the state comparisons above are illustrative, not an exhaustive survey. Confirm how Kansas's rules apply to your specific case with a licensed Kansas attorney.