Transfer money to unborn children

[taxroc]

I have a client whose children have $100,000 left in the 529 plan after they finished college. They would like to set up account for un born grand children.
I made some phone calls to the plan providers and they said this can be done as a successor 529 plan.
The issue we are struggling with and cannot find exact guidance is this a gift subject to gift tax since it a generation skip.

[dcandmc]

Can you explain what a successor 529 plan is? Who is the named beneficiary?

[taxroc]

NY saves told me they call it a successor plan for the grandchild presently not born. I assume the grandchild would be the bene.

[dcandmc]

I thought that under the current 529 regulations you have to name a beneficiary who is an actual living person. Is that not true?

In my experience, a "successor plan" means a plan to have a successor owner of the account in the event that original account owner dies. In this context it has nothing to do with a (real live) beneficiary, unless the beneficiary is designated as the successor owner.

Edited to add:

From the NY Saves website:

What's a beneficiary?

A beneficiary is the future student, or the person you open the account for. You can open an account for a child, grandchild, friend, or even yourself. The only rule is that the beneficiary must be a U.S. citizen or resident alien with a valid Social Security number or other taxpayer identification number.

https://www.nysaves.org/home/basics-of-529s/529-basics.html