Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:they all had different needs at different times. And when they did, we spent money on them according to their individual needs. We made no effort to make sure that we spent the same exact amount on each kid over the years, and we never felt like we had to
You are evil. Honestly, I'm 60+ with several adult children and unless one of yours has some extreme outliner condition, all should be treated fairly. And that means equally.
What on earth are you talking about? Since when does fairly mean the same thing as financially equal?
The first PP apparently has a black and white view of the world. They don't understand that most family situations are more fluid, and needs come and go.
I mean, seriously. Do she expect me to keep a spreadsheet of every cent I ever spend on each kid?
Here's an example. We had one kid who needed to go to boarding school for a year. It wasn't free. The other kids were in public school. Are we supposed to give the other kids the cash equivalent?
We had a different kid decide to go to a private liberal arts college because it had a particular major they wanted and otherwise was a better fit for their needs. The others went to state schools with similarly good reputations and programs (think UVA). Are we supposed to pay the other kids the tuition difference?
We had one kid who needed help with child care, another who needed help with a down payment, and another who needed neither. Are we supposed to pay that kid the cash equivalent of the child care or the down payment? Or, since the kid who needed neither was the one who went to boarding school for a year, do we subtract the cost of boarding school from the down payment the other kid got and make up the difference?
Do you really not see the difference between your examples and not dividing your estate equally among children?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:they all had different needs at different times. And when they did, we spent money on them according to their individual needs. We made no effort to make sure that we spent the same exact amount on each kid over the years, and we never felt like we had to
You are evil. Honestly, I'm 60+ with several adult children and unless one of yours has some extreme outliner condition, all should be treated fairly. And that means equally.
What on earth are you talking about? Since when does fairly mean the same thing as financially equal?
The first PP apparently has a black and white view of the world. They don't understand that most family situations are more fluid, and needs come and go.
I mean, seriously. Do she expect me to keep a spreadsheet of every cent I ever spend on each kid?
Here's an example. We had one kid who needed to go to boarding school for a year. It wasn't free. The other kids were in public school. Are we supposed to give the other kids the cash equivalent?
We had a different kid decide to go to a private liberal arts college because it had a particular major they wanted and otherwise was a better fit for their needs. The others went to state schools with similarly good reputations and programs (think UVA). Are we supposed to pay the other kids the tuition difference?
We had one kid who needed help with child care, another who needed help with a down payment, and another who needed neither. Are we supposed to pay that kid the cash equivalent of the child care or the down payment? Or, since the kid who needed neither was the one who went to boarding school for a year, do we subtract the cost of boarding school from the down payment the other kid got and make up the difference?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:they all had different needs at different times. And when they did, we spent money on them according to their individual needs. We made no effort to make sure that we spent the same exact amount on each kid over the years, and we never felt like we had to
You are evil. Honestly, I'm 60+ with several adult children and unless one of yours has some extreme outliner condition, all should be treated fairly. And that means equally.
What on earth are you talking about? Since when does fairly mean the same thing as financially equal?
The first PP apparently has a black and white view of the world. They don't understand that most family situations are more fluid, and needs come and go.
Anonymous wrote:My mom is 75. My brother divorced at 38 and moved back in with her. She is widowed. My brother quit his job at 40 with plans to get another job someday. It's been 10 years and mom has been supporting him. He has an excellent degree and would easily have been employable. He just says he hates work and work is stressful. His kids who are now 19 and 20 also lived with my mom since the divorce.
My mom is worth a few million around 3-4. She previously told me the will is 50/50. She has been doing questionable things recently. So, I asked her about the will and she said " I need to protect people in the will. You have had much more success than your brother. He has not been successful and will need more money". We will meet to discuss this further. After many instances of being treated unfairly, I am done. I am punished for working hard throughout my life. If it is not equal, then I don't want any money.
Anonymous wrote:12:15 again. Have a lawyer. Have a lawyer and tell him what your goal is: 50/50. Have a will drawn up that way. In case she'll sign. Make things simple for Mom. At the meeting you might say that you need to look after your brother and his family and see that he doesn't get into problems - sound sympathetic
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:they all had different needs at different times. And when they did, we spent money on them according to their individual needs. We made no effort to make sure that we spent the same exact amount on each kid over the years, and we never felt like we had to
You are evil. Honestly, I'm 60+ with several adult children and unless one of yours has some extreme outliner condition, all should be treated fairly. And that means equally.
What on earth are you talking about? Since when does fairly mean the same thing as financially equal?
Anonymous wrote:they all had different needs at different times. And when they did, we spent money on them according to their individual needs. We made no effort to make sure that we spent the same exact amount on each kid over the years, and we never felt like we had to
You are evil. Honestly, I'm 60+ with several adult children and unless one of yours has some extreme outliner condition, all should be treated fairly. And that means equally.
Anonymous wrote:12:15 again. Have a lawyer. Have a lawyer and tell him what your goal is: 50/50. Have a will drawn up that way. In case she'll sign. Make things simple for Mom. At the meeting you might say that you need to look after your brother and his family and see that he doesn't get into problems - sound sympathetic
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Having witnessed terrible inheritance battles on my mother's side of the family, I am firmly in the camp of equal division, unless everyone is on board with a different plan. For example, my husband and his siblings have agreed that a larger portion would go to their oldest sibling, because he takes care of their aging mother.
If your brother ends up taking care of your mother, that is worth a LOT of money and peace of mind, OP. I think you need to make sure that happens. It would be the best scenario for your family.
It would be better for the care-giving sibling to receive a reasonable payment for services NOW, rather than a larger portion of the inheritance.
they all had different needs at different times. And when they did, we spent money on them according to their individual needs. We made no effort to make sure that we spent the same exact amount on each kid over the years, and we never felt like we had to