Inheritance Money

It must be a substantial amount, as the OP said they can’t afford to save up the same amount, and it will leave the elder son in a “much better” financial position.

The odds that an 18 year old who has just received a big cash windfall will volunteer to split it with a younger sibling are pretty low. I’d probably avoid ever creating the impression that the younger one really should have had a share. Plenty of apparently mature adult siblings get into very bitter rows about inheritance—imagine the resentment that might develop with a couple of teenagers.

Personally i would halve it between the sons when they are 18. If you are sure that is what the grandfather wanted, and it probably is by the sounds of it, I would do that.

you aren't giving your first born anything, the grandfather did. Like the above said it's not your money to split life is unfair sometimes be glad that one of your sons has such an advantage in current world with cost of living and housing prices

had the grandfather left the money to the op and said give it to your child/children that would be one thing. but what actually happened is the family member left a will that gave explicit instructions. the moral thing to do is to honor his wishes. Not OP's wishes

its clear as day that OP should fulfil the wishes of grandparent, and the take whatever action he or she see's fit with their own money.

And yes life is not always fair. when your children go to college there will be people who come from wealthier backgrounds and there will be children who come from less affluent backgrounds. often the children with less income have to get part-time jobs and can not then spend as much time on their studies as they might wish. yet their grades don't take this into account. that's just 1 example they most people would be familiar with.

My advice, don't go against the wishes of the deceased.

But then if I did that and tried to balance the scales by putting more money into savings for my younger son, would that also be considered unfair because I am not treating them both equally?

you could very easily sit them both down and explain what you decide to do, when they are old enough. Its not actually that complicated. because they are individuals they may not agree with your decision but they can at least respect its your money and you decision to make. just as the grandfather's was.

Splitting it is not your decision to make as you have no say as to what happens to the money. If you wan to you can leverage your will more in favour of the other child(ren) to account for any perceived shortfalls

You can't split it it's not yours to split.

You have no control over the inheritance it's done.

You can control what happens next.

You could give up your inheritance or a % of it, to the second child though do be mindful you can only gift 3k a year from a revenue perspective.

You could save as much as you can for second child to match the inheritance money.

When child turns 18/21 it shouldn't really matter where the lumpsum comes from (grandparent or parent) they should just be bloody grateful that they got something.

I don't think there'd be anything stopping the first born from suing you for stealing his money when he turns 18

Exactly, it wouldn't be fair to help him, as the money is for son 1. It would be grossly unfair on son 1 to have HIS money stolen from him without him having any say in it.

Do whatever you want with YOUR OWN money. Shouldn’t touch Son 1s money though that he got from his GGF. Anything else is fair game obviously