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?

When my grandfather died, he left money for my mum and my aunt (to be also split with grandchildren if they wanted) my mum has 3 children and my aunt has 2. My mum would not expect to be given more and neither would I! It was your dad's choice to have 4 kids not your aunts!

Splitting equally would have been the fairest but were your Grandparents just looking at the offspring split, rather than grandchildren?

The grandparents are not thinking about the five individual grandchildren - they're thinking about an equal split between their own two children, which is completely fair enough.
There's no right or wrong way here. Estates are traditionally split between the direct heirs so grandchildren are lucky to be gifted anything at this stage rather than having to wait till their own parents die.

Gosh another inheritance thread!

Expect nothing. Be grateful for anything. It is a gift, and in this case there is a very obvious logical reason for how they have done it - they have two children and are slitting if between them, the fact is nominally going to the grandchildren is neither here nor there. Be glad it's coming to you, rather than going direct to your father and aunt who may have spent it all before you and your siblings and cousins got the chance to inherit it from them!

Seriously, this stuff destroys families. It is toxic. Try to see it for. Their point of view and don't take it personally. Make your own way.

I can see where you are coming from. Is it just the grandchildren receiving inheritance or do the children also receive a separate sum? If children have been given say £1000 each and then there is £1000 to split between the grandchildren I'd say I wouldn't find it as fair because in that case the grandchildren should be considered individually but if it's just the £1000 split between the children which they are passing directly to the grandchildren then I'd say it was fair as it's up to them to sort out their own families iyswim?

Money really can bring out the worst in people. How anyone can care about money in the wake of a death is beyond me.

Your grandparent had no obligation to leave grandchildren anything and If my dc ever get left anything by there's I would hope they would be a bit more respectful.

It's not favouring 1 grandchild, they left each of there own children 1/2 the money to pas on to children they had. It's hardly there fault your dad choose to have 4 and your aunt 1

You don't have to expect the money if you feel it's such a small offering I'm sure a charity will be grateful

Your grandparents are splitting their wealth equally between the sides of the family. Don't really think that is unfair when it's money you have no right to. I can see why some people would split it between the grandchildren equally, but obviously your grandparents feel one side of the family shouldn't receive more just because they chose to have a bigger family.

No one is being favoured in this situation OP it's been split completely fairly and evenly amongst your grandparents children and their families.

^ this

The money has been split equally between their DC.

YABU.

I would do this if I left money to grandchildren. Split the money available by the number of my children, then split each third (in my case) between their children. If one of them didn't have children they would get that third as well as any other bequest.

You'd do it differently, if you have grandchildren, by the sounds of it, but that would be your money and for you to decide.

Sounds fine to me tbh.

It's such a tricky one as my aunt nearly fell out with the family because of the way my Nan was trying to split the inheritance. My Nan wanted to give equal amounts to each of the 10 grandchildren (from 5 children) but that would have meant our family getting 4 portions because there is 4 of us and her family only getting 1 portion as she only had one child.
It's lose lose whichever way you look at it and someone is always going to have issue. I do understand why it feels unfair to you but it can be seen as unfair either way.

Is the money going directly to the grandchildren or to the children to pass on?

if he has stipulated an amount to be divided between grandchildren ( as my DM did) it was the total amount divided by 5.
I have 3 x DC my sister has 2 x DC our DC's all got an equal amount. The money was not divided into families first -it was directly to them.

Hang on
They separated out money for grandchildren
They didn't just divide it between their two children?

Sorry to ask but given how bonkers MN is sometimes.....

Wills do funny things to people. DH has just discovered that he has been written out of his great aunt's will but is still the executor for it. Why? What the heck is she thinking?

No-one in my family has ever dies leaving anything other than a funeral bill, but when my DH's grandfather died, his estate was split three ways - a third to each of his sons, and a third to be divided equally between all the grandchildren. Seemed fair to me.

Alternatively, they could have just left the money to their children, rather than grandchildren. Who might have chosen not to give you any of it.

Unless there is a bunch of other stuff going on this is isn't favouritism.

This was the way money was split from DH's grandmother's estate.

In fact, FIL had predeceased DH's granny by 2yrs so DH's aunt had received the entire estate (all above board and no resentment there). DH's aunt has 2 kids and her brother had 3. DH's aunt simply divided up the inheritance 50/50 (she didn't have to!) and gave 50% split between her 2 and the other 50% split 3 ways between her deceased brother's 3 kids.

Legally, she didn't have to do that and certainly, there was no expectation really for her to do so. Imo, it was more than generous of her since the only actual legal beneficiary in the will was DH's aunt! Tbf, we're not talking life changing amounts but the principle remains the same.

We have in our wills some money going to nieces and nephews and have divided it up exactly the way OP your GPs have.

Agree with others that no way is going to seem fair to everybody. E.g. I have one DB who is single; I am married with three DDs. My parents may decide to split their will either: one third to me, one third to DB and one third shared among my DDs, OR, they may split one half to my DB, and one half shared out among myself and three DDs. So my DB would inherit 50%, while I would get a quarter of 50%. Now, that doesn't appear particularly fair on paper, but it would be nothing to do with me how my parents choose to split their will.

If they set aside £x for the grandchildren then to me it seems fair that it's split equally between all of those grandchildren.

I can't imagine personally choosing to do it the other way.

What do they do at Christmas, e.g. do you and your siblings get a fiver each spent on you, and the 'only' grandchild gets £20 spent on her?

fairness is like everything else, it's not an absolute concept. It sounds fair to me, the money has been split between equally between their 2 DCs' families. To you though, you feel it is unfair because you've calculated you would get more if the GC had been considered as one lump. What is the point about being bitter over it? You can't define the terms of the will so that's that surely?

My GF split his inheritance this way, nobody thought it was unfair. It is fairly common I think.

My grandma died last year. Her will, was like her...a bit petty.
All grandchildren will recieve £1000 each. Daughters (our mothers) recieved what their mother thought of them. My mum and her lovely sister...£500 each. My horrific narc aunt and her enabler husband.....£1000 each. Mum and her sisters get equal third of property.
Can you guess who is the executor and has taken the heirlooms and precious family pictures?
Even from the grave, shes playing favourites. This really upset mum & lovely aunt, but we talked and decided to take a step back and let it go. We cannot change her last 'fuck you' (which is how it feels), nor can we get thru to narc aunt. Interestingly, nobody has rec'd anything yet, except Executor expenses.

So let it go OP, its their money and if thats how they wish to be remembered, then fine, It is after all, only money. Maybe its not fair, but does it matter?