One child has inherited AGAIN

Sadly, it's the price the children pay for parents having children with more than one partner. It's harsh, but not unfair.

Noticed this too. 120k is great, but from the many posts and the way it was referred to, I assumed millions.

I mean, I thought it was law in this country that marriage means everything is passed to the spouse upon death? She should’ve got the full lot not 50%, I don’t get that at all.

This is one of the things that makes blending families so difficult, you cannot make things totally fair and equal between mixed siblings. As much as your DH and his family may get along with your older DC, they will not disadvantage their biological children/grandchildren to benefit someone else's child.

The only thing you can do is adjust your will but that may affect your relationship with your youngest if they find out while you are still here.

legally its correct, morally is there a reason why your other child was left ?

Surely this is what happens when you have children with fathers with vastly different wealth?

Yes. my elder child from a previous relationship

As such, it's not great but also not that surprising. It happens a lot.

There's nothing you can do about it, and frankly, I think your husband leaving more to one sibling than the other would be more potentially damaging than the current situation. Treat them equally while accepting that there is no such thing as total equality in life.

Looks like it was 120k. So not millions.

That's what I thought.

I suspect the two youngest have been cheated ...

So? We all have different things given to us

I assume from the OP that she and her husband have some sort of "mirror" will arrangement. Are you suggesting the OP changes her will unilaterally without telling her husband?!

She is of course entitled to do so but... 😧

I understand why you’re sad your children will have different lives and opportunities because of this but unfortunately that’s life.

I would leave a larger chunk of your will to your oldest child and have an open and honest chat with your children about why you are doing it. My parents have told me I will get much much less than my brother when they pass essentially because I am financially secure and he is not. He struggles in life and they worry about him and even more so as they age. I’m absolutely fine with this and would have suggested it if they hadn’t already. I will get lots of sentimental pieces from my parents and this is all I care about. Frankly I don’t need it and he does, everything doesn’t need to be equal just to make it “fair”. I have no doubt they love us both equally.

Sounds like their dad was sexist trash. It makes sense that the wife would still receive a share but not the daughters though.

Gazing into my crystal ball, I predict OP won't be back to this thread.

🔮

The only thing you can do is leave what is yours to your eldest , so you need a will that states 50% to husband 50% to eldest son , so if you pre decease your husband your eldest gets his share . Be under no illusion that if you die first it’s very unlikely that your eldest will get anything if you don’t write your own will as your husband will likely just leave it all to his child .

Probably because the two kids live in the same home and the aunt was taking one out.

How that is comparable to the stories of what ADULT men inherit is weird.

If the aunt had arranged with her adult niece to see a show and the OP had written to complain that she had not called the other daughter to invite her then the situations would actually be comparable.

I don't have a negative view of families at all. I love mine to bits, and value the close bonds between us all. I am fortunate enough to have never experienced toxic relationships nor estrangement.

It was a good decision for the grandchildren to inherit in my own family's case as it was the only likely was any of them would make it onto the property ladder. My sibling and I had our own homes by our late twenties; the younger generation would not be able buy somewhere at a similar age. Giving them a leg up is a wonderful thing for their grandparents to have done.

I do have a strong belief in personal responsibility and decision-making. I am not entitled to to inherit from anyone, nor is anyone else. Inheritance is a gift (with the exception of providing for any dependents, as a PP mentioned). The person making the will is giving the gift, and it's not up to legislation to challenge that.

Look at the Gates family who are super-rich... they are not leaving their estate to their children as they believe it would be damaging to do so. Under an "offspring inherit" legal rquirement, they wouldn't be able to make that choice.

It's not holding "a negative view of family" to believe members of the family should be able to give their stuff away according to their own choices.

Why should she leave a sizeable sum to a child who isn't even related to her? It's not her grandchild.

Your eldest isn’t blood, therefore they get nothing. This is what happens all the time in blended families. I also can’t believe you asked your DP to leave more to a non-biological step-child over his own blood child. Utter nonsense.

They’ll have vastly different lives because they have vastly different fathers i’m afraid.
It seems so insane to you because of the juxtaposition of them being placed side to side by your situation but in reality this is often the case between those sitting beside each other in classrooms/offices/public transport…etc. Arguably the biggest financial denominator for today’s youth is inherited wealth.

I grew up very working class and both my parents and sibling are still very working class. My DH grew up very comfortably middle class and his parents have been very generous. Our lives now are so different my sibling and I and on paper I did nothing to ‘deserve’ it other than marry someone who had much more than me. It’s the way life goes.

She likes money and her older son does have a relationship with his father. Daily fail at it again tun out of stories.

I can't think of any GPs who've left bequests to their DS's partner's DC, let alone someone who might (if you're married) be a step great nephew. Surely you can see how mad that is.

@SometimesCalmPerson

"Leaving money only to males is horrible"

@EveryoneKnowsJuanita

"The half brother thing with the male heirs is very peculiar though!"

There was a case in 2022 that involved just this thing. It was about "reasonable provision" for a widow.

The couple had been married for a very long time and had two sons and four daughters (this is relevant).

Everything was in the husband's name and, when he died, his will left everything to the two sons. The wife and daughters were excluded. The total estate was worth upwards of £1 million.

The widow was left with just a state pension and nothing else, not even a lifetime trust in the property.

One of the sons wanted to share with the mother but the other didn't so it ended up going to court.

The mother was awarded 50% of the total estate. The daughters, who also had been left nothing were not awarded anything but I think that they didn't make any applications anyway.

Kaur v Estate of Karnail Singh & Ors [2023] EWHC 304 (Fam)

That’s not sensible it’s a shocking abuse of state power. It is not for the government to tell me who I leave MY money to.