To think this inheritance split is not fair?

[Big8]

Ok, firstly I know I should be grateful to be getting anything from my grandparents. And I am. But I'm just wondering what the general consensus is on this...

Grandparents have 2 offspring.

Have set aside £x for grandchildren.

There are five grandchildren.

My father has 4. His sister has 1.

Now rather than the £x being split into 5 equal portions for us all

Half of £x goes to Aunts child.
Half goes to my dad's children to be divided between 4.

So say it's £1000

Cousin gets £500.

We get £125 each.

What do you think of that?

I can't see what your experience has to do with this op though User?

Annoying isn't it birdy?

So many people haven't read the op properly.

It's driving me nutsssssss

Lucked
"perhaps we should look into inheritance tax and get our proportion split to include them."

There is more to saving inheritance tax than just splitting the bequest into smaller pieces. The tax is on the total estate, not on individual bequests. I think you should get professional advice.

Lucked - TrickyD is right...inheritance tax is calculated based on the whole estate - house, savings, belongings (yes - the executors of the will will have to sort that out!), cars etc etc. If the estate is worth make than £325,000 then 40% inheritance tax is paid on everything above that.

The only way you can 'avoid' this is by the owner of a property dividing their estate and putting some into trust so they don't own that part anymore as such - it's effectively already transferred to others. This also means that if the person went into care home that percentage of the property cannot be used for care home funding and it's protected as the rest of their estate can be taken.

Tea - isn't there a time limit on that? I seem to recall something which prevents you from doing that within ?7 years of care being needed. Councils are becoming a lot smarter at pursuing money - certainly up here in Scotland, not sure about the rUK

My DM gifted a large sum of money to her children and grandchildren five years ago. We were advised that she needed to live 7 years after these gifts or inheritance tax would be due. This tapers off each year on the anniversary of the gifts.

There are so many aspects that need to be considered when it comes to ameliorating inheritance tax, that I really think professional advice is vital. There is a lot of advice on here, some of it better than others, but it's all disparate. Anyone with an estate which is likely to attract big taxes, needs to get the whole picture of their individual circumstances addressed.

It is splitting money equally between two sides. This is what we were advised to do

Not much you can do about that, as it was your grandparents' money, and they made a decision that felt right for them.

I don't think it's up to you - or anyone left an inheritance - to whinge about what you have been left. That's your family member who has died.

Be grateful that you knew them while they were alive. And yes, I was once offered £500 inheritance and I asked to give it back, I was told no. I also know either certainly, that my mother and stepfather will leave me nothing and my dad doesn't have anything to leave me except a book. That's fine by me because I have memories.

My grandparents left identical legacies to all their grandchildren, and the remainder of the estate was divided equally between their children. I think that was the fairest way it could possibly be done and OP I absolutely understand why you feel it's unfair - obviously you are grateful for anything received but it does seem a sure fire way to cause ill feeling in the younger generation.

You get what you're given.

It's not that the one grandchild is favoured. Your grandparents have split their cash equally between THEIR children. It just so happens one child has more kids than the other.

Most grandparents leave money to their children to give to their children or not as they see fit. So in that case a 50/50 split would be fair.

Frosty - exactly. No point in leaving a family feuding when a bit of common sense and fairness could be applied. That's certainly how I plan to leave this world.

The one grandchild is not being favoured, the grandparents are splitting their money fairly between their children.
It's very possible the will was written before the grandchildren
My will is split evenly between my brother and sister, and then their children.my brother has 2, my sister doesn't have any yet.

I haven't RTFT, but if "a fixed sum was set aside" for the grandchildren, then its divvied up by 5
the rest is divided between the your parent/uncle...... (whoever)

What happened to OP...?

Big8 It's not favouring at all. That's you're interpretation. This is entirely fair and logical.

The inheritance should actually go to their children - you dad and his siter. And it would be split 50/50. They're bypassing their children and handing it down to the grandchildren. Still 50/50 - it's not his sister's children's fault that your dad had more kids the same way it's not your dad's fault that his sister had less kids. It's just a fact.

If it makes you feel any better about it - if there had been no will in place, you would have received exactly what you will be receiving. The estate would have been split between your dad and his sister equally - grandchildren would not have come into it - and then if your dad was feeling generous, presumably he would have split his 50% share equally between his 4 children.

Does that make it more palatable?

Ferris - no, the money is going directly to the grandchildren. It's not going to the individual family unit to then divvy up.

They were not dividing their money between their grandchildren but between their children.

Or perhaps they just favour your aunt and her daughter.

'Frostyrosy - with a larger estate, that would be the 'fairest' way to do it but if we're talking a few £1000 or less, the way it's been done is the more logical way and the fairer way, IMO

I have a friend who can't have children. Her dad has split his (substantial) fortune 5 ways - a share each between her, her brother and her brother's 3 children.

It has caused a huge rift in the family and I am terribly sympathetic to her. She feels like she's been punished for her infertility.
That's what's informing my perspective.

It doesn't make any sense to me that she is upset about this. She isn't being punished for not having children, because the money is going to her brother's children, not her brother. If the father's estate is $5mil, and he gives your friend, her brother, and the three grandchildren each $1mil, then they each get $1mil. Your friend isn't getting $1mil while her brother is getting $4mil, they're all getting an individual share, because they're all individual people. Of course, I can't imagine begrudging my nieces and nephew anything.

I haven't read all posts. But surely it said in the will? Did it say £x amount shared out between the grandchildren? Or did it say £x amount for the 2 children to give their children? We have learnt after a big family fall out, always make your Will clear. My mother in law left a large chunk of money for her grand children. But stupidly she wrote it in her "gift book" along with jewellery and furniture she wanted relatives to have. The furniture etc was fine. But the money wasn't allowed to go to the grandchildren as it wasn't in the will. Mother in law would be so upset if she knew the grandchildren had no money. She'd told them for years that she'd left them the money.

They were not dividing their money between their grandchildren but between their children

No, they are dividing it between their grandchildren- the OP explains that. If they were dividing it between their children (i.e. 50/50 for their children to then leave to their children as they saw fit) then there wouldn't be an issue- because that would be an equal split based on 2 people.

This is really not hard