Inheritance - what's fair?

[BrittleBean]

NC for this.

Relative's will stipulates that 65% of their estate be divided between three nieces / nephews and 35% between great nieces / nephews.

Niece 1 has three children
Nephew has one
Niece 2 has two

Is it reasonable that each great-niece / nephew receives an equal share or unreasonable that one family inherits a larger total share than the other two?

TIA

In my view, each great niece or nephew should receive an equal share. The money is not going to a family as such, it's going to them as individuals.

Up to the person leaving the money to decide what’s fair, but I think it’s perfectly fair for each great nephew/niece to get the same amount regardless of family size.

As above

Equal individual amounts.

I don’t think that’s fair at the moment but if the relative isn’t expecting to die anytime soon and the nephew is fairly young maybe they expect him to have more children?

It doesn't matter if one family gets more money, what matters is that the deceased wanted their estate distributed as per their will.

Grumpy, relative is frail elderly and nephew won't be having more children.

Will has been in place for over 20 years.

Is it reasonable that each great-niece / nephew receives an equal share or unreasonable that one family inherits a larger total share than the other two?

It's not a family inheritance though? It's individual.

I think it’s fair as they’ve specified they want it split between the great nieces/nephews. If they’d wanted it split differently, then they would’ve split per niece/nephew. (Although risk of it not going onto the great nieces/nephews). Plus as previous poster says - they are individuals.

fair does not mean equal - relative can do what they like with their money

^I mean relative would’ve split the lot between nieces/nephews if they wanted to.

It's not per family, it's per individual? The niece/nephew hasn't got access to their child's money presumably?

I'm guessing the OP is niece 1 here and fending off complaints.

But it's not the family inheriting, it's individuals, so it doesn't matter if one or a hundred children

It is what it says. It's not family relevant it's person relevant so as long as everyone is equal than that's fair. Not relatives issue if one chooses to have 1 kid and the other has 3. Fairs fair

Do it according to the will.

The way the op is outlined, 65% is to be divided equally between 3, 35% to be divided equally between all great nieces/nephews. If at the time of the death there are 6, then a sixth each.

It's not a matter of fairness. It's a matter of how it is legally written in the will.

Ffs it’s up to the person leaving the money and them alone as to what to do with it and it isn’t anyone else’s business. Any family member who has a problem with it is a greedy grasping git and deserves to be disinherited.

I think it's the fairest way that each great neice and nephew receive the same.
I would think it unfair that some would receive less just because they have brothers or sisters.

I think it's fair.

The beneficiaries are all being treated equally.

The fact that some families might inherit more jointly because of the number of children is irrelevant simply because that gift isn't going to be received (or spent) by a family unit - it's being given to an individual.

Penalising the children who have multiple siblings (obviously beyond their control) by giving them less would be unfair in this scenario.

That said - ultimately what's fair or not is irrelevant. It's up to the person whose writing the will how they wish their assets to be distributed and obviously one choice would be to leave family with nothing....

Looks fair to me.

In my grandads will he left 1% more to my sister (which still amounted a decent amount), Because at the time of writing his will she was the only one with a child. However when he passed away, she still has one child and I have three! I never kicked up a fuss, I was very, very grateful for what I received.

It’s perfectly fair that each individual receives an equal share. It would be unfair to do it per family so the children with more siblings receive less money.

@wendywoopywoo222

I think it's the fairest way that each great neice and nephew receive the same. I would think it unfair that some would receive less just because they have brothers or sisters.

Yep.

Look at it this way - obviously I don't know the amounts involved but let's say the 35% equalled £90k.

If it was spilt by family the the children of N1 would get £10k N2 £15k and Nephew £30k.

£30k is life changing money in the sense its house deposit level. £10k/£15k is nowhere near that - nice to have yes but it's not potentially going to set you up for life.

That's why equal bequests to the individuals is fair because it has the potential to provide an equal opportunity to each child (whatever the size of the bequest).

My grandmother's was similar.

Child 1 had 1 child
Child 2 had 1 child
Child 3 had 2 children
Child 4 had 0 children
Child 5 had 1 child

The bulk was split into 5 for her children and the remainder was divided into 5 again for the grandchildren. It was left to us as individuals not as a family share.

Thanks for the replies.

Nieces and nephew all close and no disagreements. Relative is much loved and even if there were private reservations the wishes expressed in the will would be honoured.....no question.

But a friend told me lately her family have had a massive fall-out over a similar arrangement and I wondered whether I have been naive in thinking it was quite reasonable that great nieces and nephews be treated as individuals, not family groups.

Oh and my guess is that you're N1 OP and your brother is kicking off????