Inheritance when one child has kids, the other does not

[Anonymous]

You can make a case why either child should get more, which is why it should be 50/50. If there’s a lot of money, I agree about having a separate education trust for the grandkids.

[Anonymous]

Our estate is divided equally among our three adult children. The differentiator is that we fund 529 plans for each grandchild.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If one of your adult children has kids, and the other is childfree, would that affect how you complete your will/ inheritance?

Doesn't matter. You divide evenly. They can leave it to their sibling's children or spend on lavish life, not your matter to decide for them.

[Anonymous]

Do a set percentage for children, divided equally, and a set percentage for any grandchildren, divided equally among them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our estate is divided equally among our three adult children. The differentiator is that we fund 529 plans for each grandchild.

What if one of the kids with no grandchildren takes on more than their fair share of caring for you in old age. Will you give them more?

I don’t feel any need to fund my grandkid’s 529 at the expense of the other…that isn’t dividing the estate equally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our estate is divided equally among our three adult children. The differentiator is that we fund 529 plans for each grandchild.

What if one of the kids with no grandchildren takes on more than their fair share of caring for you in old age. Will you give them more?

I don’t feel any need to fund my grandkid’s 529 at the expense of the other…that isn’t dividing the estate equally.

No, because the inheritance is not payment? I have no problem compensating or reimbursing adult children for elder care but that’s a separate conversation and one to have while living imo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Skip a generation and send it all to the grandkids. You do want your lineage to continue, correct? What is the child free child going to do with the money? Donate it to scam charities? C’mon.

I would get a condo, and a rescue dog. Maybe private cooking lessons because I think I’d learn better in my own kitchen. I can’t afford to buy on my salary and can’t increase it.

[Anonymous]

50/50 to each adult child.

If you have a lot of money, fund grandchildren's college accounts and consider a small trust. If the grandchildren are post-college aged, either nothing or a nominal amount compared to what adult children get (if adult children get 100K, grandchildren get 10K, if adult children get 4M, grandchildren get 200K).

[Anonymous]

We have four adult kids. Two have kids. Two don’t. We’re dividing our estate equally between the four of them. It’s up to them to provide for their own kids. We’re not interested in creating any drama or showing any favoritism.

[Anonymous]

A fine option is to collectively consider all grandchildren, including future, as one heir, so if you have two kids, you divide by thirds, and one third goes into trust for grandkids, maybe even with limited, specific uses allowed by the trust (education, medical, housing, business capitol, etc.). Yes, the grandkids might inherit more when their own parents pass, but there is no guarantee of that. This ensures that your grandkids get something, and your kids have equal amounts. It also gives grandkids access to some funds when they most need it in life, not waiting for their parents to pass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If one of your adult children has kids, and the other is childfree, would that affect how you complete your will/ inheritance?

Doesn't matter. You divide evenly. They can leave it to their sibling's children or spend on lavish life, not your matter to decide for them.

It actually is the donor's matter to decide; that's why this is a question.

[Anonymous]

My parents divided equally even though some of us have kids (one had 6!) I think we honestly all would have been happy if two of the 11 grandkids got a direct bequest as they lived w/my parents for awhile when brother divorcing and always helped out so much. My parents did ask that brother to share a portion of his inheritance (the rest of us have always gone out of our way to do extras for them.) Equal is definitely what we plan to do with caveat that if we both were to die - if any still haven’t finished college that is funded outside of division.

[Anonymous]

We have a close family member who has done very well financially.
They make max gift donations to all of the grandkids (and grand cousins) each year to support their educational needs.
But the final inheritance is structured so each child gets the same %

[Anonymous]

50/50 with separate amount for grandkids. That’s what my parents did. My brother has chosen to remain single. I have two kids. This is fair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a close family member who has done very well financially.
They make max gift donations to all of the grandkids (and grand cousins) each year to support their educational needs.
But the final inheritance is structured so each child gets the same %

I still don’t get this…by default, anything they give the grandkids and cousins is: 1. Reducing what the kid has to pay for that grandkid so increasing that kid’s NW and 2. Reducing the total value of the final estate that is split evenly.

I don’t care if you do that, but it’s not splitting things evenly. No reason if you give $20k to grandkid’s 529 you can’t gift another childless kid $20k.