Split between siblings and grandchildren

My Grandparents did a 50/50 split to their children ignoring the existence of their 5 grandchildren. I thought that was normal.

Maybe she suspects that if she gives 50% to your sister, it'll get frittered away, rather than saved towards eg your nieces' future education and/or housing?
In which case maybe it'd be better for her to set up some kind of savings fund in each GC's name and deposit a certain amount for them to access when they're older, with everything else being split equally between you and your sister?

If your Mum decides to split 5 ways, then surely that's fair? You get the same as your sibling, and the grandchildren get the same as each other. It's somewhat unusual to give grandchildren as big a slice as children, but it's not unfair as such. Your sister is getting no more than you, money for the grandchildren is theirs, not hers.

It would also be fair to leave it 50:50 to her children and for your mum to choose to leave nothing to her grandchildren.

What would not be fair in any way would be to leave your sister less than you on the basis of her children also being left money. So say, 50% to you, 20% to your sibling and 10% each to the grandchildren is very, very clearly unfair!

You and your sibling should get the same amount. It's up to your mum whether she would prefer that the total estate gets split just between the 2 of you, or whether she would prefer to split only a portion of the estate between you and your sibling and gift the rest of the estate to others. But as long as you and your sibling get the same amount, then it's fair.

I wouldn't say that's fair.

I'd look at:

50/50 you/your sister
split between you and your nephews/nieces (so 25% each)
1/3 to you, 1/3 to your sister, 1/3 between the grandchildren.

Any of those can be argued as fair.

Ultimately, it has to be your mum's decision, but I think the fairest thing to do is split it all 50/50 between you and your sibling.

This is a good compromise.

I'm in a similar situation in that I don't have children, so will be leaving everything to brother's children.

I think because they're specific possessions she probably likes the idea of leaving something to everyone. I agree for the will it's more fair to leave it 50:50. At the same time my relationship with my DGM was fantastic and I think she saw me as a person independent of my dad. Similarly my mum is the same with her grandkids. So if they weren't related you wouldn't be suggesting their share comes out of whoever introduced her to them. I think it's a funny one.

My sister died unexpectedly last year. My brother and i are her executors. I have two children, my brother has none. My sister left £25k each to my two children and some small bequests to charities. The residue of her estate is split 37.5% each to me and my brother and 25% to my mother (my father died some time ago). My mother, who has significant savings, has decided to execute a deed of variation for her share of the estate 50% to my brother, 40% to me and 5% each to my two children. Everyone is happy with that.

YABU it’s your mums money and possessions so it doesn’t matter what you think is fair or unfair there is only one opinion really that counts and that’s your mums. That might sound harsh but when it comes down to it that’s all that counts what your mum wants to do

I have just one sibling and she has no children. I have two. My sister is also significantly better off than me and that is her good fortune and good decision making. I would be very unhappy on my sisters behalf if my parents gave anything other than a token amount to my children. I think their estate should be divided 50/50 between my sister and I and that is indeed the plan. It is up to me to provide for my children from my resources which will include, all things being equal, an inheritance from my parents. OP, I completely get you'd feelings on this. And I also don't understand the whole 'your parents love their grandchildren the same as their children' - that is not the case in my family nor in most others I know. Maybe it would be different if we lived closer, my parents love their grandchildren but it wouldn't compare to the richness of the relationship they have with my sister and I.

I think 50:50, one you don't have a house and two who is to say you might not get swept off your feet and have kids in the future.
Or maybe give £10k to each grandchild, then 50:50 for the rest. I'd be hurt in your place.

I'd feel the same as you OP.

I think you need to accept that it's your mum's decision.

Why don't you suggest to your mum 3rd split and say they girls are in the will to get your money anyway.

If there is a particular item of jewellery you would like I suppose now is the time for you to mention you have always liked X piece of jewellery but not so keen on Y piece of jewellery. I am not keen on big clunky rings but prefer small dainty ones and I love dangly earrings more than stud earrings. I'd let her know your preferences so you at least get something you'd love to wear. With money, anything but equal shares for DC is not really fair, but I'm sure you know this. My Mum left all her 5 DD 1/5th of everything. Me and 1 other of my sisters are far better off than the other 3. I bought 1 of my sister's a car with some of the money Mum left to me and also gave some to my DC. I didn't really need it at the time that Mum died, but I'd have felt terribly unloved if Mum had left me out because she thought I didn't need it. I think with jewelry it's nice to leave her granddaughters something each. I know my MiL who has some very nice jewelry is leaving it to me and her 3 granddaughters. She is not leaving jewelry to any of her DS's or DGS's. She doesn't have any DD's of her own but I've always been very close to her. I invited her to come and choose my wedding dress with me. She has specified I get to choose a piece first then each DGD in age order. Then we all choose again and so forth. I'm just hoping it ends with the four of us having the same number of items each.

@Wouldliketobeanon I am your sister in this situation, ie the one with DCs, my sibling doesn't have any.

FYI my mother did exactly what @Workawayxx suggests here and gave a sum to each of my 3 DCs, jointly amounting to somewhere between five and 10% of the estate. Everything else, including my dad's collections (which mum kept but had no interest in herself), were split 50-50. Not sure what my sibling thought of this, but I thought it was spot on.

50:50 is fair. Anything else isn't. However it up to your mum on this

It's up to your Mum. My Mum wrote her will before any of us had kids and its between her surviving children and any grandchildren. Irrelevant of who has how many kids and who doesn't, it's her choice.

I don't think there is a right or wrong here. From your mum's perspective she will probably be thinking of the 5 people she loves the most, rather than 'branches of the family'. And it sounds like your sister would likely spend her share anyway rather than pass it on as inheritance to her children

Decendents not dependants.

With jewellery which she would like to see being enjoyed it makes sense to me to share it amongst all her dependents to me. With things that will just be sold and converted to money then 50/50 between siblings seems fairer.