Inheritance

No one who could sign a passport? Really? Have you read the requirements?

I might get something if it doesn't all go on care for my mother (and I'd be happier if she was in a care home rather that struggling on by herself in the old family home as she is at present).

But we're a long lived family, and by the time I got anything I'm likely be in my 70's with no-one else close down a generation to leave it to....

I’m 48 and haven’t inherited anything, my husband is 55 and also hasn’t. Our parents are in good health, I am sure there will
be some inheritance when they pass but hopefully not for a long time yet. We have worked hard and are financially set up
ourselves so it’s not something I ever really think about, I would be more than happy if it skipped our generation and went directly to the grandkids (there’s 16 of them across both sides of the family). My children stand to inherit very well from us

In 2000, my brother died and DSs were stunned to hear he had left them each £100,000 and twice that to me. It helped DSs on the housing trail.
They were very lucky and very grateful. I remember getting the solicitor’s letter and ringing DSs to tell them. Amazement and gratitude.

More than half the population expect to inherit in the next 20 years https://www.ftadviser.com/family-law/2025/5/23/nearly-23mn-uk-adults-depend-on-an-inheritance-/

Depends what you count as an inheritance. Neither of us received much.

We've given our kid a lot already, more people pass on money while alive now. ifamagazine.com/where-in-the-uk-do-adult-children-receive-the-most-help-from-the-bank-of-mum-dad/

ive never inherited from grandparents. On both sides they left (the little they had) to their children. In my mother’s case when her mother passed the family home, which was in a working class area was sold and the proceeds divided between her and her 8 siblings. I think they got about 20K each. Same situation with DH

Ill inherit half of my mothers home when she passes, hopefully many years from now. I’m in Ireland which has the fair deal scheme so even if she requires a care home, I know only a fixed percentage will be eligible toward her care. My DH won’t inherit any of his parents house and were fine with that. His sister still lives in the family home. She assists his parents day to day and while they’re in good health now realistically if the day comes they need extra care, a lot of it will fall to her. They worried what would happen when they pass away and that SIL could be left homeless so DH and his siblings got them to leave the house to her in their will.

I'm mid 50s, born to older parents. There was only one GP alive when I was born, and they lived in a council house and Ieft nothing when they died when I was 11.
I am an only child, my dad died in 2008, left everything to mum, who is 90 next year. She lives in a small shared ownership property in the village I live in. She still goes on holiday with friends and is very independent.
I'm aware of what's in the bank/savings and have POA. I hope she continues to enjoy life, and spends whatever she needs to in order to be able to do this

But conversely just because there has been a loss it doesn't mean there has been an inheritance.

Totally understandable that many would rather a loved one around than not but there are many that have no loved one and no inheritance.

’Most’ is not ‘everyone’. And a house is not the only thing you can inherit.

You’re not alone OP. Have never received a penny and won’t receive anything in the future. Same goes for DH.

I inherited from my parent 10 years ago , back then their house sold for £220.0000 .
Weirdly , it still doesn't feel like my money and sits mainly untouched a decade later .
I suppose it's a good thing it's not been frittered away ( don't want to move , mortgage paid off , never felt the need for a new car etc )

I'm just wish my parents had lived long enough to spend their money on care home fees. Sadly I inherited everything early as they passed away in an accident when I was 25.

I've inherited 200k. It's stuck in an account. I'd rather have.my mum back

I'd be interested to see where you got that figure from.

The current figures for those that go into care are nothing like that.

Today, if you are currently aged 65, then you can expect to live to 87.5 on average if you're a woman and 85 if you're a man (source ONS).

Of women aged 80-84 there are 3.9% in care homes, but this does more than double to 8.7% for those aged 85-89.

(the figure does rise dramatically for those aged 90+. The figure is 21%, so if you live past 90 you have a one in five chance of ending up in a care home, but a four out of five chance of not being in a care home)

The comparable figures for men are 2.4% for those aged 80-84 and 4.6% for those aged 85-89. So, only one man in twenty aged 85-89 is in a care home (and the average age of death for men is 83).

(source ONS)

So, take 100 women aged 65. Very few indeed will be in care homes before the age of 80. The ONS figures show that out of these 100 women aged 65 then 2.5 will be in a care home before they get to their 80th birthday.

The ONS says that 76 of them will make it to their 80th birthday. Then 59 will make it to their 85th birthday. So, that's an average of 69.7 women at each year between the ages of 80 and 84.

The figures say that 3.9% of those are in care homes, so that is 2.7 women on average in a care home.

Then from having 59 women alive at the age of 85 this falls to 35.8 by the age of 90 and there is an average of 49.9 women alive between the ages of 85 and 89.

The figures say that 8.7% of those women are in care, so that is 4.3 women.

For the 35.8 women that get to the age of 90 and beyond, the figures say that 21% of them will be in a care home, that is 7.5 women.

So, out of a total of 100 women aged 65 today, the figures suggest that 2.5+2.7+4.3+7.5 = 17 women will go into a care home.
.

The similar figures for men are quite a bit lower, partly because many fewer men go into care and also because they don't live as long:

Take 100 men aged 65 today. Of those, 2.3 will go into care homes before they are 80.

67 of them will make it to their 80th birthday and 47 will make it to their 85th birthday.

Of these, 2.4% or 1.4 men are in care.

From those 47 men at age 85, 24.5 will make it to their 90th birthday.

Of these men 4.6%, or 1.7 men, are in care.

For the 24.5 men who make it past 90 then 10.1% or 2.7 men are in care homes.

So, for 100 men aged 65 today then there will be 2.3+1.4+1.7+2.7= 8.1 men who go into care homes.

Overall, for every 100 men who are 65 there are 105 women.

So, combining the mens and womens figures gives an average of 12.7 people out of every 100 who are alive at the age of 65 who will go into care homes.

My sister and I inherited from our mum. It was about £100k each. DH had got maybe £600k from his dad but has fallen out with his siblings in the process.

I did not assume that I would get an inheritance and worked hard during my 50s once my children had flown the nest to build up my own retirement savings. I was aware how much money Mum had, my father died 30 years previously, as I had POA and needed to sort her finances out once Mum developed Alzheimer’s. She was 87 when she had to move into a care home so perhaps I should have realised that her savings, pensions and rental income from her house were more than enough to last for years - far longer than her life expectancy.

She died just before her 90th birthday and we were then able to sell her house and work out probate etc. There were four siblings but even so, I inherited a decent amount as the area she had lived in for over 60 years had become very trendy and house prices were very high. I didn’t need the money, my own savings and pensions provided me with a vert decent lifestyle so I am just about ready to do a deed of variance to gift most of it to my children. They are all in their late 30s/early 40s so the money will really help them out now rather than later on when I pop off.

None of my family have ever had any money to leave. Half of my grandparents ended up with their children splitting the cost of their funerals and the other two only avoided it because they paid into funeral plans.
I imagine my parents will be similar. They don’t own any assets or have any real savings.

A very good friend of mine lost 2 grandparents and a parent by the time she was 20. She inherited a lot of money - we’re the same age but she’s in her forever home, mortgage free, has a BTL and a lot of savings.
She’s grateful for the cushion the inheritance gave her but I’m pretty sure she’d give it back to have her mum here.

While I am envious of her finances, she is envious of the family support I have. I don’t think inheritance helps much when you’re young (friend lost her mum as a teen).

I don’t understand this - surely your mum would have been happy that her husband had the funds for a lovely nursing home when he needed it? Isn’t that what their assets were for?

It's often said by people whose parents were taken too young.
No amount of money helps that feeling

As someone who inherited nothing because each time there was an inheritance to be had, despite being told I would be looked after those people left everything to someone else and thought that some of it would come to me or after that person has died then I would inherit everything.
My gran left everything to my mother. My gran refused to believe I was not in my mother’s will. My cousins will be the beneficiaries when my mother dies or has died (went NC years ago)
I say this over and over. If you want to leave something to someone then leave it to them. Dont expect others to do what you wanted when you didn’t do it in the first place.

Couldn’t you just get a provisional licence ?

Who signs it for them? Still needs a signature

@Kendodd absolutely - it's going to be the biggest divider. I know young adult, only child, and whatever her classmates do in life, I bet she'll be the richest. That's even if the other kids she'd been at school with start successful businesses, get high paid jobs etc. When the parents got together they both had London properties, which they kept, and bought a large one together. She's going to be minted! And that's even with care home costs - aged 21 she's already got her own property in London.

Most people inherit from their parents whether it’s the change in their purse or a million pound house - this is nothing new. What is new is increasing numbers of people of normal dying age are homeowners so the generation whose parents fall into this category are much more likely to inherit than people only 20years or so older than them. I’m early 50s and none of my grandparents owned property or ever had more than a few hundred pounds in savings whereas my mum has probably £800k in investments and property and gets richer every month. I do “expect” to inherit something from my mum (specifically a third of what’s left) and while she may need to sell up and pay care home fees her pension income would cover about 75% so her capital will dwindle fairly slowly. Most people don’t go into care homes (iirc it’s about 5%) so the idea that everyone’s estate will be fully devoured by care home fees doesn’t stand up.
DH has very kind and generous parents who work very hard but also play hard and he is much less likely to inherit than me as they will probably spend and gift most of their money before they die. They have much less than my mum (who sees spending money as a moral failure).

There no chance of me inheriting anything. No one I know has anything to pass down.
When I was young my dad inherited a tiny house from his great aunt who he used to look after. He did her shopping weekly and made sure she had everything she needed, she was a lovely lady who never married. His brother never bothered with her and fell out with dad when he got the house (1 bed back to back terrace with an outside toilet worth virtually nothing at the time). So my only experience of inheritance is that it causes arguments.