Anonymous wrote:I am a firm believer in giving two each child evenly, including the amount given to grandchildren.
One option is to divide it into two trusts. Your children should each be the beneficiary-trustee of their own trust. The remaindermen should be the grandchildren. If one child has not had kids, that child should have the option to leave the remainder to any of your grandkids or to charity.
Or, give half to the child with no kids. Give the other half to the family of the child with kids: give seventy percent to the child and divide the other thirty percent among that child's kids.
But don't do it so that one kid's side of the family collectively gets more just because they had grandkids.
For one, what is the childless kid has kids down the road, winds up with stepkids etc? but even if that doesn't happen, it just isn't fair to give more to the sibling with kids.
I would be upset if I got 70% of what my sibling got and my kids got my share instead. Grandchildren should be provided for separately. I want my sibling and I to have equal amounts.