To not pay my sister back?

[GunpowderGelatine]

We were meant to be going on holiday to Spain at the weekend with the four of us (me DH DD and DS) and also our teenage niece. My son now has to have surgery on his arm after breaking it a couple of weeks ago - it turns out the break was much worse than they first thought. So as a result we can't go on holiday 😢 before anyone asks I don't want to send DD and DN with one of us as I really don't think it would be an enjoyable holiday with half the people there and half the people here in hospital.

I've claimed on our insurance, which is all year round insurance I've had for donkeys years. We cannot claim for DN as she is not a member of our household. I told my sister this, thinking that she'd have sorted insurance. She hasn't, so they will lose £450. My sister thinks we should pay this back to them out of the holiday money that's coming back to us, but I've said sorry it can't be helped but she should have taken out insurance. We have now fallen out. WIBU? We want to rebook for October half term and could do without giving her £450 on top of this!

Is this a reverse post???
YABU if you never discussed insurance with her beforehand.
The reason the holiday is cancelled is not due to force majeure, it’s due to YOU.
Also , it’s your sister so give her her money back or at the very least, split it

I agree - you should have checked the teenage child had insurance, you're an adult.

Yeah well she's your family- assume you care about her wellfare. You should def' reimburse your sister.

Glad you have kissed and made up and that your DN is coming away with you in October.

Personally I would have paid her (or done as you have done and taken her away another time) because if your sister had taken out a separate insurance policy, in my experience of working in insurance, she wouldn't have been covered by your decision to cancel - she could have technically still gone. I know your reason for not going is absolutely a good reason. You were definitely lucky that your insurer paid out for the holiday (again, in my experience the holiday could have gone ahead and insurers are generally quite ruthless). Like the poster above said if she had paid for insurance but wasn't covered as it was technically your decision to cancel would you have then paid her then?

Anyway glad it's sorted! Probably best for her to be covered in the same policy as everyone else - that way you all have the exact same cover!

I wonder what your sister would have done if her daughter had been unwell on the holiday or in an accident.

For this one I would go halves.

GunpowderGelatine I've come across holiday changes causing trouble before.

Quite simply, the parents of the child who was not insured are responsible for the holiday payment.

They were happy to hand over the money, they were prepared to send her abroad with another family, but their responsibility as parents did not cease because they had paid for her to go on holiday abroad. They had responsibilities to her concerning her travel abroad. They should have insured her. It sounds as if they were sending her abroad uninsured. How utterly irresponsible that is!! To not have travel insurance for oneself is reckless, but to send a child abroad without cover is dangerously negligent in my opinion. I am shocked that they were prepared to pay for her to go without establishing that she had the correct insurance to travel. I think this shows negligence of parental responsibility on their part. What if she had gone with you and then had an accident needing a special means of transport home, or a big operation? Even the smaller things such as theft or loss of luggage are very distressing, but that may be considerably ameliorated by the insurance cover.

This is not the first time I have come across this argument about a child being taken on holiday with another family. The responsibility to ensure all possibilities are covered rests with that child's parents.
Why do parents so happily hand their children over to another family to go abroad with them and not think of their responsibility regarding these things?

I realise it is very upsetting in this case as this is a relative and has caused a family upset, but the insurance for the loss of the holiday for your niece is her parents' responsibility and something they should have made certain of when they gladly paid for her to go away.

You could point out that, had she gone abroad without insurance and a mishap occurred, there would have been enormous difficulties concerning payment of hospital care and for the required transport home.

GunpowderGelatine
I'm so happy for you all! You sound like a very kind and loving family.

i think the predicament you went through brought to light a really helpful issue.

I send love and best wishes to your son for his surgery and to you as it's so hard for mum and dad at a time like that! I'm sure all will go well and the people at the hospital will look after you all.💐🐻

Have a great time in October!!🏖

me too;
I love a happy ending

I think given that you didn't make it explicit you weren't having insurance to cover the whole holiday and it's your choice to cancel you really should reimburse her at least half. It isn't their fault you've decided not to go

Oops didn't see it was 9 pages...

I was under the impression if you had an insurance policy that was long term in your name all members of the holiday you booked were covered?

Learn something new everyday.

I may be going against the tide here but if I was taking my niece on holiday, I’d have sorted out the insurance for her. It wouldn’t have cost much.

Glad it’s all sorted - as others have said I doubt if insurance would have paid (despite the fact that she couldn’t go on her own!) as it’s usually only illness of a direct family member (son/daughter/parent/spouse).
And on a separate insurance note I discovered that mental health hospitalisation doesn’t count. We had a holiday booked for just me and DH, one of our DDs took an OD and was admitted to hospital for 2 days. At the time we didn’t know what her mental state was and I asked the insurance company, if the doctors said we had to stay home with her (she was going to stay with relatives, she’s under 18) could we claim. Although she’s our daughter that wouldn’t be covered as mental not physical.

Travel insurance would NOT pay out in this case as the holiday could of still continued so your sister would still be out of pocket for your decision.

This is simply a red herring because you DO NOT CARE you have taken £450 from your sister (you got all your money back + the money you paid for the holiday)

So in fact you are profiting you have gotten and extra £450 you are not entitled too.....

worrid calm your tits, no need to shout, and RTFT. Or at least my replies

And it's 'could have' not 'could of'

Worrid OP didn't get an extra £450. How did you come up with that?

This thread was resolved days ago, OP's happy, sis is happy, it's all good.