Leaving house to one child and not the other?

It's easy to be saint like when it's hypothetical isn't it?

This. Happened to someone I know. None of the siblings speak now. All very sad and very divisive.

I get what people are saying when they say it's 'unfair' but I wouldn't mind a bit if my parents left my sister the house and not me. She could never afford a house, and I already have one. I'd feel guilty taking something I don't need just because it's 'fair'.

Parents who do this are really unfair as the underlying message is that they love one child much more than the other.

At least the child who has been left out of the will can leave the responsibility for caring for their elderly parents to the favoured sibling.

Way to go when you need a falling out with family members, going down a few generations....

But also, I think the gifter should let everyone know in advance so they can explain their reasoning before they die and everyone falls out!

It's unfair regardless. Trust me OP the resentment it creates is a reason alone to give equally.

This and that's all there is to it

My dad always said the house goes to my sister. She lives local, potentially might live in it, so that was that. It is theirs to do as they wish.

My parents left 1 of 4 out. They had reason for this. My father had been in business with the 1 who then ripped him off. The reasons were all documented with solicitor when drawing up will in case he challenged it. After everything was settled the 1 decided to block the rest of us with no explanation. It may not even be down to the will.

Everything should be divided equally between the children. Anything else is unfair and causes no end of resentment.
Saying that one will be left out because their partner will inherit is ridiculous because there might be nothing left to inherit if it all has to go on a care home or they might split.
The only time I think it's fair to leave a house to one child and not share it is if there are significant disabilities and care needs which means the child cannot earn for themselves or similar scenarios like that.

Well obviously it’s completely unfair. They are making wild assumptions that the left our child’s partner will receive any amount of inheritance or the type of value this might be in comparison.

the child who is in the will should be firmly advocating for their sibling with their parents, unless of course they are heartless greedy fuckers who don’t value their siblings existence at all.

Unless one child is disabled with serious care needs, inheritance should be equal. Otherwise there will be hurt feelings.

If there are sufficient assets, the children can let one child use liquid assets to offset shares in the house at a fair price.

If you've already had your share in advance, then that's really not the same situation. Children should be treated equally unless there are really exceptional circumstances.

In the situation OP's described, it's a terrible decision. No one can rely on a spouse or partner inheriting. It's a terribly destructive choice.

Very unfair, you can't stop it causing a rift between siblings.

I don't think so.

I think it’s awful to exclude one child unless there are exceptional circumstances. My brother was a millionaire, and had lived on the other side of the world for 40 years. He came to visit every two or three years for a week or so at a time. Our parents divorced and when my dad died, he hadn’t left a will but it never crossed my mind that he shouldn’t benefit from my dad’s estate - we ended up splitting it equally three ways with my mum. My mum updated her will several times over the years and always specified tjst my brother and I should receive equal amounts - the onmy exception was that she specifically left me hwr jewellery. I didn’t have a problem with that at all - regardless of the huge difference in our financial situations, my mum was his mother two and loved him unreservedly. Sadly as things turned out, he predecessors her but if he hadn’t died I would have been happy to has shared our mums estate equally with him.

My parents are leaving their house to my brother and I am all for it.

They have already given me so much and helped me out enormously-I don’t expect anything else and am of the belief it’s theirs, to do with as they wish.

It’s bound to cause bad feeling. An uneven split causes bad feeling even when it’s entirely fair.

My siblings hate me for inheriting my Nana’s flat, even though when she bought it for she and I to live in after Grandad died she gave them (and my Aunt) their inheritance at that point as I was 12 and she wanted me to have security if she died.

So to do it for no obvious reason is going to cause all sorts of bad feeling.

It’s a shitty thing to do and a great way to ruin your relationship with one of your children in your golden years. I have children and I couldn’t possibly fathom a world in which I’d leave everything to one and not the other whatever the circumstances.