Parents being flippant about inheritance - is it a trend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did 50 percent of your grandfathers estate go to the IRS? That doesn’t make any sense.

Honestly, you have NO clue. Do some research. NP

I have a clue but it would be really hard to have 50% of someone's estate go to the IRS unless, they never paid individual income taxes at the end of their life (I've seen it). Or they died 20+ years ago had had in excess of $10 million in their estate when estate tax rate gradually increased from 37% for gross estates valued in excess of $675K to 55% (plus 5%) for gross estate in excess of $10.0 million. If you were getting socked at over 50% back then I feel no sympathy for that person because there are all kinds of ways around the estate tax. A person worth $10 million back then should have talked with a lawyer.

[Anonymous]

It is not an entitlement thing it is an emotional thing. My father divorced my mom then married his secretary but died a few weeks later and left her $3M instead of us (myself and two siblings). Yes, my mom, who is still alive got half his assets in the divorce. And both parents were extremely generous when alive. I don’t want more money. But I was a good daughter too and the hurt I feel because he wanted her to have money instead of me is still raw five years later. I would have just saved it for my kids, not done anything fancy with the money. I imagine it is painful to hear “nope, not for you” for OP too.