I don't have children and as of now my brother does not either (although that could change for him, he's in his late 30s). But if my brother did have children down the road, I would have zero problem if he and I got the same amount and a separate pot was set aside for his children. I would be uncomfortable with money for his kids having to come out of his "half." The kids are separate people! |
A variation of this became a sticking point in my mother's large (five siblings) family with 30 grandchildren. Grandparents gave everyone the same amount for BD, holidays, HS graduation (farm family so not everyone going off to college so not treated as a milestone). Then they gave money for marriage. And there became some talk over time when the oldest brother began handling grandparents' finances about if this should be dispersed by age not marriage. There were a number of unmarried grandchildren - one had kids, a number were not married due to age (the age span of the grandchildren is about 25 years - the oldest now is 70), and three were gay in various stages of being in the closet. It was never changed and I know some of the siblings were not happy, but it reflected the times in many ways. |
Inheritance from parents or grandparents? |
If you knew you had an inheritance coming, why not just take out the loans knowing you'll be able to pay them? Most of us paid them even without an inheritance. |
Do you think something should have been done differently here? My mother's parents were very focused on being equal equal with their five kids. And those five kids had good relationships. Not perfect ones, but good enough to always pull through for each other and assume the best in difficult times. My father's parents were less well off with his dad dying in his late 50s. His mom, who had always been a seamstress, sewed for as long as her eyesight allowed. Nearly all of their farm had been divided among my dad and his two siblings when his dad died with his grandma living on the remaining 25 acres and the homestead. My dad's sister got their mother to leave the house to her - even though she was the best off of the three kids - and she sold it and profited the proceeds. It was such a gut punch to her siblings. |
Unless one has triple digit millions or more to bequeath, then all things being equal, the money should be divided equally amongst the children, not the grandchildren: it's the parents' choice to breed and thus their responsibility to support their own brood. Reproducing in and of itself doesn't automatically make one or one's offspring more worthy of resources: does anyone honestly think that someone like Oliver Sacks contributed less to the world than the Duggars?
That said, if I'd spent (wasted) a disproportionate amount of money on one kid for preventable and unnecessary reasons (e.g. more than one round of drug rehab because kid started using again within a week of getting out of one stint; bail; rent because of eviction owing to failure to work, etc.), I'd rebalance through my will to award the kid(s) who were hard-working and responsible all along. Also, if I had one kid whose net worth was somewhere in the neighborhood of what, say, Serena Williams or Oprah Winfrey has and the other were, say, a middle school teacher and what I had to leave in the way of material resources would provide my middle-class child with financial security that would not affect the material welfare of my other child in any meaningful way, I might want to bequeath a disproportionate amount to the former, but not if doing so would negatively affect their relationship with each other. |
Appreciate your last point, including the sensitivity to the relationship. Your opening point is more challenging. Perhaps a trust might be worth consideration. I wake up with a lot of problems every day, but am grateful, truly so, that addiction is not one of them. |
My parents have a set amount for each grandchild and then the remaining assets are split between me and my siblings in equal shares.
For example, each grandchild would get $10k and each child would end up with $100k. My family has 3 kids while my sister only has one so they would get $20K less than my family. My grandparents did it the same way. |
No, but the person with kids is more likely to need the money, put it to good use, and carry things forward. |
And just to add, it doesn't make you more valuable to the world but having kids certainly does make an impact to your family and the grandparents. |
Why wouldn't the childless sibling then give the money to the nieces and nephews when they pass? That keeps it in the family without constantly dividing the legacy up into smaller and smaller pieces until nothing is left. |
I don't think anything should have been done differently in my case, I'm the PP. Your case is nothing at all like my case. But this is a case for dividing things up equally amongst siblings instead of unequally. Your aunt got everything and the other siblings got nothing. I don't think that's ideal for anyone. I don't know why grandkids are clamoring for a piece of the pie. Their time will come when their parents pass. Just like their parents had to wait for theirs, if there was anything left to divide. |
I couldn't tell if you were dismayed or not. Yes, the aunt, who had been an only child for seven years and resented when my aunt and dad were born, didn't care about the deleterious effect this move would have. She simply believed that she was the oldest, she deserved it, and that they would have to suck it up. |
So a childless person who leaves money to, say, the Audubon Society does less with it than a breeder who blows it on ATVs, drunkfests (vacations; graduations for high school seniors finishing with D averages), rock concerts because family? Impact, btw, can be, to quote the Rocky Horror Picture Show, "good, bad or mediocre." The lack of critical thinking ability and imagination in this thread and on this site more generally is just appalling. |
This. |