Inheritance

[ICTChris]

Saw this article earlier - millennials stand to inherit more than £2 trillion worth of property in the coming years as their parents die and leave their offspring the spoils.

https://apple.news/AV6TvJxKeSWuLAeHABegPRg
 

This giant generational transfer isn’t without hitches though - more and more wills are being contested legally and the increase of “blended families” with stepchildren due to divorced parents remarrying can complicate matters.

Do any P&Bers stand to inherit generational wealth?

Have the P&B boomers written up wills or will they leave their descendants to fight it out like rats in sack?

 

[Ross.]

Got a few grand back when my old man popped his clogs 6 years ago, what little there was was split evenly between me and my older brother. Paid off the credit card.

When my old dear and stepdad go, whatever there is will be split between 6 of us, I imagine. Whatever the case it’s really not worth falling out with folk over money at times like these. Unless someone is quite obviously trying to rip the rest of you off, you just accept your lot and get on with life.

There was a story in the press recently about some old boy who changed his will in his latter years and left virtually everything to only one of his grandkids, on the basis that none of the rest of them ever bothered their arse to visit him. The rest of them were none too happy and were taking legal action. In cases like that, f**k them, the old c**t accumulated that wealth, it’s up to him where it goes.

Personally, if it was up to me, I’d set inheritance tax at 100%, and apply significant penalties for anyone trying to get round it. Sure, it would affect a lot of people who don’t have much, but it would affect those with plenty far more.

Edited March 19 by Ross.

[Aaron_stampler]

The good lady and I have just finished our wills and power of attorney documents. Wife works with elderly folk and stressed the need for POA as she's seen some expensive situations arise in their absence.

it was quite a sobering experience I may add...

[ICTChris]

We currently have a situation in my wife’s family where an elderly person is suffering from dementia but the process of getting them into a care home is being strung out partly because some of the people who have POA benefit from them not going in. 

Genuinely surprising to see people behave like this over a little bit of money. You’d think people would want the best for their family when they are ill but apparently not.

Edited March 19 by ICTChris

[Ross.]

More fool them. Short term gain but long term damage. From your perspective it’s perhaps a good thing that you can put their name in the drawer marked “c**t”.

[Raidernation]

When my father died he left a will splitting everything 50/50 between myself and my brother. My brother tried to claim the will was invalid because it was written before he (somehow) produced a sprog with his ex, therefore my father had a grandson. Claimed that this meant he should get more. Also tried to hide certain documents (such as shares my dad had in RR), took my father's car without permission, was desperate to take the drinks cupboard (probably well over 2000quids worth (lot of single malts, dad collected) and a couple of other things.

Our relationship was already pretty poor, and I knew he was a c**t, so, it was no surprise.

 

[Central Belt Caley]

Think I got about £1500 when my gran popped it, I remember cutting down my hours at work to focus on my dissertation so that was put to good use. 

I turned 17 a month before my other gran died and her car got passed on to me, beautiful little Peugeot 107 GBNF

[Barry Ferguson's Hat]

Touching that you got a personalised licence plate in her honour.

[Florentine_Pogen]

My old man died in 1979. I just turned 18. He was useless with money, it all went on fags and the bookies so he left feck all readies. However, I got an £800 payout from his work's pension. Straight to Audio Aids on South Clerk Street and bought a Sugden C51/P51 pre + power amp combo (2nd hand, which I still have), a Micro Seiki turntable and a beautiful pair of SMC AS40 Studio Monitors. If only I'd had someone to tell me to not be a stupid arse and to use the money as a downpayment on a flat !!!

My mum remarried in 1996. In 2000 my stepdad died and shortly after his death, my mother received a letter from an esteemed Edinburgh solicitor's firm informing her that her late husband had made a will in 1972 and based on contents of same, his estranged son (who was now a schizophrenic drug addict) was entitled to half the estate. Guy walked off with best part of £120k.  He lasted less than 2 years after getting his inheritance.

Get those wills sorted out, peepul !!!!

Edited March 19 by Florentine_Pogen

[Granny Danger]

We have U.K. wills and POAs as all our assets other than our home are U.K. based and Spanish wills for our home.  It’s worth it to avoid the hassle and also to speed up the process of dealing with the estate.

POAs are also of increasing importance due to the age to which people are living.

There is an obligation on the person who controls the POA to do what’s in the donor’s best interest; they cannot just use assets over which they have control for there own benefit.  Though I’m sure there’s instances of that happening.

 

[BFTD]

1 hour ago, ICTChris said:

Saw this article earlier - millennials stand to inherit more than £2 trillion worth of property in the coming years as their parents die and leave their offspring the spoils.

https://apple.news/AV6TvJxKeSWuLAeHABegPRg
 

This giant generational transfer isn’t without hitches though - more and more wills are being contested legally and the increase of “blended families” with stepchildren due to divorced parents remarrying can complicate matters.

Do any P&Bers stand to inherit generational wealth?

Have the P&B boomers written up wills or will they leave their descendants to fight it out like rats in sack?

I'm surprised there hasn't been a boomer movement to give all their dosh away to anti-THEM! groups. As a generalisation, they really don't seem to like their descendants much.

Not expecting GenX to be any better - just occurred to me that we're going to go down in history as the Karen generation  

[senorsoupe]

I only have one surviving grandparent and he's already transferred all of his land (he inherited a bunch of mostly useless land) to my mum and uncles already so it's only going to be money left.  That being said, he's now 101 and going strong so don't know how much of that there will be left as he's been in a retirement home for 10 years now and has been giving money away to whoever has a need in the family.  That being said, I did inherit nearly 60 grand (canadian dollars) a few years ago when a great auntie passed and had named all of her grand nieces and nephews to get the remainder of her estate.  She didn't really pay attention to money so I presume she had no idea how much was in her accounts.  

In terms of my parents, I know they have a will and we (my parents, sister and I) have already sat down and had an adult conversation about what to do with the property that they have so I don't really envision any issues there.  My sister and I also get on really well and neither of us are money focused.  

That being said, my wife's family are toxic AF (and she is estranged from many of them) so who knows what will happen when her parents go.  We have both agreed that if it gets too messy then we will just walk away, no amount of money is worth dealing with that bullshit

Edited March 19 by senorsoupe

[ICTChris]

4 minutes ago, BFTD said:

I'm surprised there hasn't been a boomer movement to give all their dosh away to anti-THEM! groups. As a generalisation, they really don't seem to like their descendants much.

I think it's more likely that people will just spend what would once have been an inheritence - one of those quoted in the article says that his parents took early retirement and are spending all their pension lump sum on holidays.

[welshbairn]

1 minute ago, senorsoupe said:

I only have one surviving grandparent and he's already transferred all of his land (he inherited a bunch of mostly useless land) to my mum and uncles already so it's only going to be money left.  That being said, he's now 101 and going strong so don't know how much of that there will be left as he's been in a retirement home for 10 years now and has been giving money away to whoever has a need in the family.  That being said, I did inherit nearly 60 grand (canadian dollars) a few years ago when a great auntie passed and had named all of her grand nieces and nephews to get the remainder of her estate.  She didn't really pay attention to money so I presume she had no idea how much was in her accounts.  

In terms of my parents, I know they have a will and we (my parents, sister and I) have already sat down and had an adult conversation about what to do with the property that they have so I don't really envision any issues there.  My sister and I also get on really well and neither of us are money focused.  

I don't know how it works in Canada but in Scotland there are 2 parts to Powers of Attorney; money and welfare. Having them both set up before my dad got dementia and my mother became wheelchair bound was really helpful, being able to sort things out without wheeling my Mum everywhere or trying to get my Dad to sign something he didn't understand, or to give his approval over the phone. When they died it made things a whole lot lot easier too.

[senorsoupe]

3 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

I don't know how it works in Canada but in Scotland there are 2 parts to Powers of Attorney; money and welfare. Having them both set up before my dad got dementia and my mother became wheelchair bound was really helpful, being able to sort things out without wheeling my Mum everywhere or trying to get my Dad to sign something he didn't understand, or to give his approval over the phone. When they died it made things a whole lot lot easier too.

I'm pretty sure it's similar over here as well.  My parents are currently both healthy (at the moment) but are now in their 70's (mum turned 70 this year) so it's likely going to be a conversation that will need to happen sooner rather than later

[Florentine_Pogen]

6 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

I don't know how it works in Canada but in Scotland there are 2 parts to Powers of Attorney; money and welfare. Having them both set up before my dad got dementia and my mother became wheelchair bound was really helpful, being able to sort things out without wheeling my Mum everywhere or trying to get my Dad to sign something he didn't understand, or to give his approval over the phone. When they died it made things a whole lot lot easier too.

2 minutes ago, senorsoupe said:

I'm pretty sure it's similar over here as well.  My parents are currently both healthy (at the moment) but are now in their 70's (mum turned 70 this year) so it's likely going to be a conversation that will need to happen sooner rather than later

There is a separate Power of Attorney thread. Worth a read.

[Hedgecutter]

2 hours ago, ICTChris said:

the increase of “blended families” with stepchildren due to divorced parents remarrying can complicate matters.

My dad's* estate will now need to be split six ways rather than three after his remarriage, and what's left of my mum's (after she downsized to pay her debts) will also be six ways because of her step-kids.  Gone to six people I've barely met.

*same situation for him after his widowed dad remarried. Gone from three-ways to a seven-ways for him.  Apparently there's a fair bit of family politicking over bits and bobs there from his step-siblings seeing as his wife had most of their estate originally.

Edited March 19 by Hedgecutter

[Florentine_Pogen]

3 minutes ago, Hedgecutter said:

My dad's estate will now need to be split six ways rather than three after his remarriage, and what's left of my mum's (after she downsized to pay her debts) will also be six ways because of her step-kids.  Gone to six people I've barely met.

Do not let this situation gnaw away at you. Try and let it go, it really is not worth the anguish.

[Hedgecutter]

18 minutes ago, Florentine_Pogen said:

Do not let this situation gnaw away at you. Try and let it go, it really is not worth the anguish.

It's not really.  As I say, in a way it's kind of good that it forces me to go out and rely on myself.  I'm sure there will be folk out there who'll have been reliant on inheritance, only to be written out of the will over some petty grievance.

[BFTD]

49 minutes ago, Florentine_Pogen said:

Do not let this situation gnaw away at you. Try and let it go, it really is not worth the anguish.

Yep. Apparently my maternal grandmother's mum came from a well-to-do family from Fort William and ran away to marry a Perthshire crofter (I've no idea). They had 13 kids and she ended up being the sole inheritor of the family's money. Unfortunately, she'd died in her thirties (from all the shagging, presumably) and it took decades before someone tracked down one of her kids. The one they found claimed he was her only surviving child and got all the dosh. His siblings apparently all just shrugged and said, "oh well, that's Peter for you", as they all knew he was a c**t.

My mother's still seething about this, despite everyone involved being long dead, her never having met any of the original wealthy folk, and the family being split for three generations. Dwelling on these things only makes people miserable; this is one of the many things she bitterly rants about in her old age.