Will dilemma

endofrainbow

Friends of mine, a married couple have 4 kids and are redoing up their respective wills. Children A and B (married) have young children , C and D (married) no kids. A and B have suggested parents make provision for grandkids but C and D think this is unfair as it will penalise them because they are childless and cut into their share of the inheritance and anything for the grandkids should come from their own parents . Parents want to do the right thing but are torn about alienating any of the kids but for different reasons. Who is being selfish and what advice would you give the parents? They are really upset about this and are really looking for opinions on how to tackle a delicate situation.

con747

Personally if it was me I would leave my children equal amounts whether they had children or not, the fact they had children wouldn't come into it.

Peregrinus

Let it be known that they will be dividing their estate into four equal shares, one earmarked for each of their children A, B, C and D and their respective families. If A or B would like specific provision for their children, the parents will be happy to do this, but it will not be at the expense of the other childen or their families — e.g. instead of leaving 25% of the estate to A, they could leave 12.5% to A and 12.5% on trust for A's children, to be divided equally among them when the youngest of A's children reaches the age of 18. B, C and D would be unaffected by whatever is done with regard to the allocation of A's 25%.

Note that, depending on the size of the estate, leaving money to grandchildren rather than to children could result in a higher inheritance tax bill. A and B should be advised to think carefully about this before asking for some of the estate to be directed towards their children rather than to them.

Mellor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058428864/will-dilemma

Grandkids share should come from A and Bs share. A and B can advise how their 25% should be divided.

If A and B are expecting a bigger share because they have kids, they are being selfish and scheming.