Anonymous wrote:I just wanted to add to this, even though it was originally posted years ago. I was left quite a bit of money by my (paternal) grandfather. My mother, his daughter in law, when completely money crazy. She manipulated me out of a good chunk of it by making me feel guilty and saying that I needed to pay her back for having raised me. She immediately lost half of this money to bad investments and bad spending habits. My husband and I work and we live as frugal as possible. the money that was left allowed us to pay off our house, invest, and pay off any of our debts. If we hadn't given my mother that money we could have saved more for our retirement. My relationship with my mother is almost completely destroyed. Please do not jeopardize your relationship with your children over this money. Look on the bright side! Your youngest children might have their college completely paid for with this money. that means you don't have to pay for it yourself. Also, since they have received an inheritance already you don't have to leave them anything; unless you want too. If you are worried about them all spending it frivolously then suggest a trust fund. That way their college funds will stay safe. As for your oldest she should be old enough to decide what to do with what she gets. If she wants to spend it all on designer bags it will be her choice. This money is a gift to your children. This inheritance could really help them in life and that is a blessing.
Anonymous wrote:Long post … but basically, I am trying to gauge whether my hurt feelings is warranted. Would you be upset you if your parent(s) plan to completely cut you out of any inheritance, and leave it to your children (their grandchildren) instead of you?
To give some background … My mother finally admitted to me (although I always had a feeling) that she is planning on leaving most of her inheritance to my children, some to her sisters, and absolutely none to me because she does not like my husband. I understand her ill feelings towards my husband, who at times can be selfish; however, I am very hurt that she is completely cutting me out since I have remained close to her and for the most part we get along. I am the only child. I talk to her at least a couple times a week and see her at least once a week. I know she wants me to see her more, but I work full-time so it is difficult for me. My concern wrt the inheritance distribution is … my DD, my oldest who is in college, currently is very materialistic (example: She has at least 5x more designer purses than me, and she always has my mom buy or give her things). She very rarely calls my mom. I am closer to my mom than she is. My other two children are very young (beginnings of elementary school). I hope they grow responsibly, but time will tell. I would hate to see my mother’s inheritance spent irresponsibly or unappreciatively.
Although I am currently financially stable, we have always been on a tight budget. Up until recently we had full-time childcare expenses and we fully paid for my daughters education ($160k+). In future, we may have 2 more college expenses as well. My mother has never helped with neither my DD nor my own education expenses, nor would I expect her to. I would love to be a stay-at-home mom, but I have to work for my family’s health insurance and if I didn’t work we would not be able to pay for my DD’s college. I made a lot of sacrifices for the grandkids she loves. I love her as well. But I have always felt she was sadistic towards me. I think her intentions validate she doesn’t really love me. I have never asked her for money. She has always given my children more than me, which I have greatly appreciated. But when she passes, friends and relatives will question why she cut me out of her Will when we seemed so close. Yes, I did confront her wrt my feelings, and she said I was just jealous so she would just leave everything to charity so I wouldn’t be jealous of my own kids. Am I wrong to be utterly hurt by this?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I have not read all the responses, but I don't think it is fair to the extent that it makes the amount allocated to each child and their family unequal to another child and her family. For example, I have 1 sibling, and he has 3 kids and I have 2 kids. My parents will leave everything to my sib and I 50/50 - and if for some reason they left it to the grandkids, they would leave 50% of their estate to be split evenly between my kids (so each would get 25%) and the other 50% to be split evenly among my sib's 3 kids (so each would get ~ 18%). Compare that to DH who also has one sibling, but my IL's plan to leave everything to their grandkids which will mean that my 2 kids will each get 1/6th of their estate and my SIL's 4 kids will also each get 1/6th - but meaning it would be like they gave 1/3rd of their estate to DH and 2/3rds to his sister - that last part is what makes it unfair to me.
Money left to your kids is not "like" money left to you, because your kids are separate people. Each grandchild gets the same amount, which seems fair to me. If they left 1/3 to your husband and 2/3 to his sister, that would be lopsided, but they aren't. They aren't leaving any of it to either of them.
Anonymous wrote:Her mom should start a thread "Would you be upset if your children were treating your money like a deferred savings account and confronting you about how you plan to leave it when you're not even close to being dead?"
Anonymous wrote:I have not read all the responses, but I don't think it is fair to the extent that it makes the amount allocated to each child and their family unequal to another child and her family. For example, I have 1 sibling, and he has 3 kids and I have 2 kids. My parents will leave everything to my sib and I 50/50 - and if for some reason they left it to the grandkids, they would leave 50% of their estate to be split evenly between my kids (so each would get 25%) and the other 50% to be split evenly among my sib's 3 kids (so each would get ~ 18%). Compare that to DH who also has one sibling, but my IL's plan to leave everything to their grandkids which will mean that my 2 kids will each get 1/6th of their estate and my SIL's 4 kids will also each get 1/6th - but meaning it would be like they gave 1/3rd of their estate to DH and 2/3rds to his sister - that last part is what makes it unfair to me.