To think £30k is a really nice windfall?

[OrangePowder]

Friend has inherited from his aunt.

She had no children, but was married to a man with one son. Her husband predeceased her but it was always understood that she would make provision for his son in her will. Which she has done.

Friend and his sister, as the closest relatives of the woman were also told that they would inherit. They were expecting 50% of the estate (c. £300k) between them.

In the event aunt has left 50% to the step son (who she raised as her own) and the remaining 50% is split 5 ways, between her nephew, his sister and three others she felt had helped her a lot during her life.

My friend is furious that he was misled and doesn't seem to understand that to have £30k land in your lap is huge. FWIW he has parents in their late 80s who are very well off so can expect a substantial inheritance there too.

I wouldn' t expect to inherit anything from an aunt (or anyone really) so to me £30k would be amazing.

Nephew probably earned every penny of what he's got in unpaid labour for the old woman, anyhow. I'd call 30k compensation, not a windfall.

Unbelievable. I'm truly astounded at how many unpleasant people there are on MN.

Nephew probably earned every penny of what he's got in unpaid labour for the old woman, anyhow. I'd call 30k compensation, not a windfall.

or you could see it as "paying it forward" for all the help people will give you when you are old? Or "paying it back" for all the help you had when you were young?

@Mandalay246 quite an eye opener isn't it

@Mandalay246 I'm curious, what does it say about me? It should be clear from my posts that I am the older generation not the younger. I have adult DCs, my DM is unlikely to leave me much more than her collection of craft supplies, DPiL are now long gone. I'm viewing this from a testator's perspective not an inheritor's perspective.

I knew someone who was expecting over half a million, and made the mistake of telling people she couldn't wait for her mother to die.

She is off quite a lot of Christmas Card lists now.

@Mandalay246 I know O about you so won’t be responding with your silly spite - but I do know you’ve never done eldercare.

A useful windfall, or a catastrophic sum of money in the wrong hands. A friend inherited 20k, quit his job to take a year off (not to travel or do anything interesting though), rapidly pissed it up the wall whilst surrounding himself with brand new ‘friends’ who helped him to do so (and ignoring his old friends who implored him to save the money or at least spend it wisely), and 12 months later was in debt, unemployed, and unemployable. Very sad.

@mellicauli OP has mentioned that aunt was demanding and difficult. Why would anybody put up with someone like that if not for the cash? You reap what you sow.

Being old and vulnerable entitles you to state help and carers, yes. But it doesn’t entitle you to love and compassion if you don’t give any (barring dementia or any similar condition that changes personality). If people are selfish and difficult they deserve to pay the price.

@bananapumpkin

Nobody has a right to an inheritance and he absolutely should be grateful for the £30k (although we've probably all reacted badly to a disappointment, so give him time to get over the initial shock).

However, £30k is not "huge" in the way that £150k is. It's not enough for a deposit on a house, for example, which could be what someone in that situation was hoping for.

Really? When the capital of my grandfather's estate became available, my mum passed part of her share on to me (keeping some for herself and giving my brother some too). It was worth £7.5k and was 5% of the value of my first house. I'm not in that expensive an area but a quick search on Zoopla shows that £30k is still a respectable deposit in some of the less ridiculous parts of London.

I know someone whose DH reconnected with his estranged father as his father told him that he was ill and he would be leaving his significant estate to him in his will. Her and her DH told everybody about the expected inheritance, even going so far as planning exactly what they were going to do with the money. The dad is still alive 6 years later and they've stopped mentioning it now...

haha!

And the dad might or might not have been telling the truth....

@DdraigGoch I've learnt from this thread that £30k is considered quite a good deposit in lots of areas!

One point I would make, though, is that IMO it can be more difficult in expensive areas outside of London. Within the M25, in most cases you can move only a few miles and save quite a lot of money. But in other parts of the country you might have to move quite a long way to find something affordable, which is a real issue if you want to be near family and friends.

Regardless of how expensive life is where you live, noone has any right to expect a certain amount of inheritance. It makes no difference whatsoever.

I inherited £15k when my (childless) uncle died. I was very grateful for the money. But, I also hadn't expected anything. I didn't know I was mentioned in his will, and I hadn't seen him much in recent years. If I had been previously promised five times as much, I might have also been a bit miffed.