It's another will one. What do you think about this will?

[LindorDoubleChoc]

Single parent dies. They have two children in their 60s. I'm using children in the broadest term here because obviously they are not children.

One of these has two children in their early 20s (their only grand children). The other "child" has none.

The child who has no children is pretty well off. The child with two children is not so well off (possibly because apparently it costs £180,000 per child to raise them from birth to 18).

The parent divides the will one third each to her two children, and one third for the grand children to be split 50/50 between them.

What do you think of that?

Both children have benefitted equally.
Both grandchildren have benefitted equally.
This seems more than reasonable to me.
What the children choose to do with their money, whether it is leave it to next generation, spend it on fast living or care home fees, is their choice.
There is no indication in the OP about the value of the estate, but a decent size bequest is going to be far more use to the grandkids than the kids here.

I won't be getting anything from my parents, as they are leaving it all to my older, much wealthier brother. Last time I spoke to them about it, I did ask that if they changed their minds on this, could they bypass me and leave it to my kids.

Why do childless people always get the shit end of the stick? Why should the childless chlid get less than 50% of their parents' wealth?

The grandchildrens' parents should give them some of their money then. Instead of the grandchildren stealing from their childless aunt.

The "nonchildfree" child is also getting less than 50%

If anyone makes a fuss about this I hope karma gets them

Those pointing out it's a 66/33 split are right

No they aren't, they are completely wrong. It's split between 4 individual adults 33/33/16.5/16.5

They aren't stealing as it was never the children's money in the first place.

It's really awful

Our relative died and in her will she divided her estate equally between her three adult dc. She talked to the executors about what was in her will, and specifically said it would be unfair to include grandchildren as main beneficiaries because one of her children had three dc. It would have meant that one son and his kids would have got nearly half the entire estate.

How are they stealing exactly...? They are being given some money by their grandparent.

Wouldn’t that depend on how the will is written? If 2/3 of the estate is to be divided by the children then the surviving sibling would get a full 2/3. If the grandchildren weren’t included separately they would get 100% and the grandchildren would get nothing.

You have 3 apples and 4 people you'd like to give some of an apple to.
2 of them (your children) get one apple each. The other two (grandchildren) get half an apple each. The deciding factor in how many apples you get is your relationship to the apple giver in a purely logical and non emotional way.

I think it's lovely to help the young. The children are not in financial difficulties so why not.

We helped our children as young adults because that's when they needed it.

I intend to help my grandchildren next because their parents will inherit from a trust so they're sorted.

No, both siblings are getting 1/3 So they are being treated equally, which is fair.

The gift to the grandchildren has nothing to do with them. The grandchildren are people in their own right, not extensions of their parents.

Both children are getting less than 50% of the parents’ wealth.

I wouldn’t see it as particularly unfair if everything except personal possessions passed straight to the grandchildren tbh, assuming both children are financially comfortable.

What is shitty about inheriting the same amount as their sibling?

I would prefer money being split up only between children. And then each of them does whatever they want with their inheritance. From childless sibling’s pov the other sibling benefits more so the will is not entirely fair.

I think it's great. The grandchildren can put that money towards house deposits, higher education, bettering themselves, Most likely the adult children already have their own properties.
I do however always think each case is a world of its own. Let's imagine one of these children has given up a career to care for her mother and made sure she can tay in her own home, while the other jets off on holiday and lives her life. Would I think it unfair if the first got more in the will? No I would not.

Isn’t the shit end of the stick your parent dying rather than your parent providing an inheritance for their grandchildren?

How does the other sibling benefit more given they are getting exactly the same amount?

@Superlambaanana why do you think the childless sibling is due 50% of the estate? It's such an entitled point of view. The GM has distributed the inheritance between 4 people that she loved, what's wrong with that? Would you be complaining if the GM had said she loved her grandchildren as much as her children?

In any case, the sibling isn't missing out, they are getting a lump of free money, we're all lucky to get anything at all.

It's no different to each child being left 1/3 and the remaining 1/3 being split between 2 charities.

Very simple. Their children receive money so they don’t need to worry about certain things e.g
helping them with a deposit or paying for a wedding etc. I know the childless sibling doesn’t have children at all so doesn’t have this sort of worries but they might need money for help and care as they don’t have their own children to help them .

I'd be fine with that, I'd love to know my nieces/nephews had a helping hand.

That's how my parents have done ti too, but there are 2 DC who have 2 GC each, so each DC and their progeny get an equal share. That's not what's proposed here.

OP knows it's not "fair" or she wouldn't have asked.

Of course the parents can do as they please, but the childless DC is getting less and will feel it.

Parents don’t have to help out with deposits and weddings.

And there’s no guarantee children will provide care to their parents, so that’s not really a difference.

I am not seeing any unfairness here. Both siblings are getting the same plus there’s a gift to presumably much-loved grandchildren. Why does it matter who the parents of said grandchildren are? The gift isn’t for them!

My brother and his wife are childless. Their will divides their money between their nephews and nieces.