Grandparents leaving money to grandchildren?

But there is, all of our taxation, on everything you eat, buy , use.
Billions, and we pay this to other countries, for illegal immigration etc, benefits, often to wealthy individuals if Mumsnet is to be believed

I'd be quite upset if this happened. I think it's reasonable if you are in your 50s and still have a sizeable mortgage and are having to fund dc through university to feel a bit resentful if at that point dc come into money which is locked away leaving you to keep struggling away everything even once they have the money. It's not about wanting to retire early as such, but I can imagine paying off the mortgage and then taking a lower-paid, less stressful job. That might have the benefit of keeping you well and involved/active in your dc's life as a source of support for your dc in their early adulthood rather than working yourself into the ground, which might benefit them more than some cash. Nothing to stop you gifting them some money as well if there's enough.

However, my ex is an absolute waster and I would like to think mil might skip him, or at least share her money between him and our dc. I doubt she will though and her money will probably be pissed away by him, leaving nothing for the dc. If I inherited from my side I would not be a martyr but not piss it up the wall either.

If the middle agers are already wealthy, one would presume they already have nice holidays and luxuries. In any event, if people have the spends available, why shouldn't they if they can afford it.

In any event, I don't really understand this thread at all. Out mothers are very late 80s. Our DC are 27/30. DH and I will inherit from our mothers and within two years of death we can make a deed of variation which is a tax efficient way to pass money to the children should we wish. We have no need of any more money.

I told my mother about our intentions and her only comment was "well make sure you spend some of on yourself and have a proper spend up".

It wasn't too onerous, initially I just found a fixed interest savings account until I worked out what to do with it.

We didn't know until after she died.

I never really met 3/4 grandparents. Died in their 50s and 60s so I wasn’t born or a baby. Plenty of my kids friends don’t have grandparents and plenty of my friends have lost a parent.

Not possible but it’s still going to be a mess. She has severe mental health issues and is an alcoholic so they’ve always supported her.

I'd rather it went to my dc.

I'll survive without it, and I have a home. It's not perfect and I'm still working in my 60s but I'd still rather any money jumped a generation.

My DC are teenagers and neither are academically thriving so not projected to get great GCSE grades which means high earning professions will be ruled out.

@Pepperpotladles encourage your dc to take up a trade via an apprenticeship. My joiner has bought a house for each of his three children and we can't get a tiler for love or money without being on a waiting list. Getting a good plasterer is the same. In the near future, many in what are now high earning professions will be seeing their jobs disappear to AI and robotics.

My mum did this, her thinking was they could use it for university. All my DC are autistic (though the 4th wasn't diagnosed until after she'd passed away).
DS1 is 19 and ignores the money (so far) apart from buying himself a decent gaming PC. He is still in education but it finishes this year (EHCP) gets PIP but doesn't have great chance of employment. It's over 16k, so he couldn't claim any other benefits. (Not that I expect him to, but I'm more thinking when DH and I pass away)

DS2 should be going to university this year. I'll come back to that

DS3 is 12, I cannot foresee he will go to university, he's not currently attending school (also EHCP). Very impulsive (ADHD) and I'm concerned what he might do with it at 18.

DS4 is only 10, I'm not sure if he'd want to/able to go to university.

DH feels it would be unfair for DS2 to spend his on university as the others probably won't, so we should fund DS2.

So whilst my mum was doing a nice thing for her GC, they're all vulnerable in different ways. DC3 is very much a child who could go shooting down the wrong path and having access to so much money at 18 really isn't ideal...

Out maternal grandparents left us over 100k each. They had it in writing that only our parents could take it out! Haha.

You can also ask the banks not to give it out until they're 21.

Well it’s lucky for our children that they are all better off than us, as their inheritance won’t be life-changing, even if we do escape the care home! But what there is will be going directly to them in equal shares, which to me just seems to be the natural order of things. When we had our wills drawn up the solicitor did suggest leaving a small sum to each grandchild before the rest is shared out, as they’d like to be named and know that we were thinking of them too. A nice idea, and we’d have gone for it if we’d had more to leave, but with a largish family this could mean that nobody will end up with anything worth having.

My parents are talking about reverse mortgaging. That may be a good solution, then they are taken care of and no-one has to worry about any inheritance. Takes away the ambiguity.

Inheritance is a lottery. My oldest friends have had three large inheritances. Both only children, each with the remaining parent leaving them everything, having died after short illnesses so not needing care. Also one of them inherited from an aunt who was single, again, no care costs diminishing her estate.

I've had nothing. Both my mum and my MIL required care for some years, which took all their savings and the full value of their homes. Nothing left for us or our kids.

I'm helping my DDs as much as I can now, because I'm the remaining parent and the odds are that my estate could also be eaten up by care costs

Its good to give inheritance and money to people but only when they reach a certain age.

Oh, wow! Ok.

Makes sense to me. They could do with the money at a younger age than when they’re retirement age, like children of the deceased might be.

It can also be a fairer way of splitting the money. Eg in my husband’s family his grandparents had two children. The eldest had one child (husband’s cousin) but the youngest had three children (including my husband). So when his grandparents died they left half each to their two children. When they eventually pass away, on one side that half of the grandparents’ money will all go to one grandchild (husband’s cousin) but the other half will have to be split three ways between my husband and his siblings. If the grandparents had left eg 50k each to the four grandchildren and the remainder to be split between their two children (parents of the grandchildren) then that would be a fairer split of where the inheritance eventually ends up.

I’m in the same boat, I won’t inherit and neither will my kids but I don’t begrudge someone who will asking the question and feeling annoyed that they were not getting inheritance when they thought they would.

I think it is a good idea. Everything comes too late for so many of us.

My FIL did it, my MIL is doing it, my mother is now telling she's thinking about it's and my father...likely to just inherit the bad genetics and maybe some navy rum 🤣 so yeah kids are sorted....takes the pressure off uni, car, house deposit though, leaving us the money to spend on the kids for memories and adventures and such like. FIL has specified education and a home in his will, MIL is giving it to me to give to the kids as I see fit, mother is doing the same, father...I hope the bad genetics are watered down at least, and il just enjoy the rum!

I don't know, but my mother in law died last month at 92 and her 4 year old granddaughter was at the funeral. The 3 other grandchildren are early 20s.

That sounds like a nightmare, having to pay inheritance tax on wealth you can't liquidate to meet the cost. What if you don't have that lying around? Either you have to buy out your siblings of their share, they have to decline that inheritance, or (if they can afford to wait), you pay them rent on their portion.

I live in Belgium and you cannot disinherit your children here so it's interesting for me to see this conversation play out. The advantage to this is that it avoids sideways inheritance like what happened to Peter Sellers' children. His fourth wife inherited his wealth and then she died a few years later, leaving everything to her daughter. So his children got practically nothing while his step-daughter got everything.

The downside to this is that I won't inherit everything if dh dies (or vice versa[.
I will get 1/4 of his estate and the three dcs will get 1/4 each. As I own half the house (and its contents[, I will end up with 5/8s of the house etc and they will get 1/8 each. They can't kick me out, however, so may have to wait until I die too to get the money. They will be expected to pay inheritance tax immediately though!