No inheritance because of pilot training

[Poily]

My brother is a pilot for a major airline in the UK. My parents were not able to borrow against their house to fund it so had to use pretty much all their savings. £150k was roughly what was spent.

Due to their failed business (folded just after Covid) they racked up massive loans trying to save their hospitality-related business. When they sell their house they won’t end up with much.

So I don’t know exactly how it works but some of that £150k ends up in a bond which the airline then pays out to my brother every month in his pay packet. But if my brother walks away from the airline he walks away from this bond also. It’s a lot of money. Gets paid over 7 years I think.

AIBU to think my brother should not quit his job and move to the Middle East (stupid salary) as he plans to do? He way paying that bond money to my parents.

Brother has said he will cover my parents bills. Great. Thats the right thing to do. But that cuts me out. As my parents were transferring the bond
money into a savings account for my kids.

AIBU?

*PropertyManager · Today 17:37

Your brother is being very generous OP, he is going to house your parents and they have given him £150K to pay for it, if they ever need care and there is no money in the pot the local authority accountants will be all over your brothers finances, they are all headed for a mess

Breathe a sigh of relief it has nothing to do with you*

You do realise this is all a pipe dream and there isn’t anything set in stone to say that it is actually going to happen or that the parents might decide that living in an annexe next door to their ds in the UK in winter isn’t what they want.

They might decide they prefer Florida or Italy or Spain or Timbuktu.
All their choice has been taken away from them.

Im really not sure how the bond works beyond the airline having something like £80k (which my parents paid).

This has then been paid back to my brother in the form of his pay packet for the past 4 years.

Now he’s moving airlines he will have to kiss the bond goodbye

But he's paying it back, so it hasn't been given. If he gives them money every month and they use it for rent and bills, or is he pays the rent and bills directly, the end result is still the same.

But would they have all those choices if they hadn't given him the £150k? Maybe it would just have kept the business going a bit longer and they'd have ended up without the £150k and without the brother feeling he needs to house and finance them.

How is it being forgotten about if he's still going to be paying them monthly even if some of that goes to the landlord and then long term he's building a house with accommodation for them and most likely going to pay those bills too?

It sounds like the 150k will be all accounted for?

@nandinos

"The OP's brother borrowed 150K from the parents, 'some' of which was paid to the airline. The airline doesn't deduct this money monthly from his pay. Rather, they pay it back, at a rate of £700 a month."

Yep.

It's taken a while but I've finally remembered that a few years back there was a major UK airline 🤐 that did indeed have a scheme, run in conjunction with one of the major flying schools, where the finances worked in almost exactly that manner.

It's not maybe bonding in the way many in the flying world think of it but it certainly encouraged the pilot to remain with that company for X years, where X may or may not be 7..

Exactly, he had the benefit of the £150k at the time but it sounds like he might end up paying back far more than that.

As long as your brother repays the loan it's between him and your parents imo. It's their money. Not your inheritance. And if he pays it back, via rent or whatever, he won't have been gifted anything will he, so you won't have missed out.

How do you know your parents won't continue to save £700/month for your kids anyway?

It doesn't sound like you're planning to build them an annex.

You are being vv unreasonable.

You can tell them not to pay money into an account for your children when they are struggling with debt

*Poily · Today 18:01

Im really not sure how the bond works beyond the airline having something like £80k (which my parents paid).

This has then been paid back to my brother in the form of his pay packet for the past 4 years.

Now he’s moving airlines he will have to kiss the bond goodbye*

None of this adds up. Literally

Your brother has received (presumably tax free) £80,000 over the last4 years

That is £1666 per month extra in his pay packet and he has been giving your parents £700 per minth

Why is he and your parents looking at property when he is supposedly going to the Middle East to earn money to afford it. Or is it a case of dazzle your parents with what could be and if he dazzles them enough they will somehow for get about what he owes them.

I think both you and your parents need to invest in a calculator and take off the rose tinted glasses

You brother might be a great guy but you don’t mention a wife.

What happens if his wife when he gets one decides she doesn’t want the in-laws living next door to her

There's always such a grubbiness to these threads

You've no entitlement to inheritance.

Focus on hoping your parents have long and happy lives instead gurning over what you may or may get at their demise

My understanding is the looking at property is to find for one them to rent when the house sale goes through. Because of the CCJs they will struggle to rent so he is going to be the one doing the payments directly to the landlord so they have somewhere to live

There was programme on ITV a few years ago following a trainee airline pilot with a commercial airline(easyJet?) he had to pay upfront for his training it followed his progress to the point he was co-pilot. The terms of the training was the same as in the OP.
I can see all kinds of future shit hitting the fan.

Thats not entirely true, there is a whole tranche of law called "proprietary estoppel", which basically means if you were promised something (inheritance) which you relied upon, to your detriment, then you have a legal entitlement.

Doesn't apply here whatsoever, but does exist, most commonly in the passing on of farms and farm land.

@Yalta

"Im really not sure how the bond works beyond the airline having something like £80k (which my parents paid).

This has then been paid back to my brother in the form of his pay packet for the past 4 years.

Now he’s moving airlines he will have to kiss the bond goodbye

None of this adds up. Literally

Your brother has received (presumably tax free) £80,000 over the last4 years"

If I've got my head around the right scheme I think it worked something like this:

The airline/Flying Training school got just over 80k as a lump sum from the bank of Mum and Dad before training started. The school would keep that cash to cover costs if the brother had withdrawn from the Course early.

Brother got through course, so now airline repays it over a period of 7 years.

Why are your parents saving £700 a month for your kids when they have CCJs and are about to lose their house?!

Have I misunderstood this or something because surely you can't be serious with this thread!

I'm guessing the brother is paying it direct, otherwise the court and creditord would be getting rather un-nessasary over that

If they are indeed paying £700 a month into an account for the kids, its fair game to the creditors if they find out, and potential porridge for mum and dad!

I really do not understand this situaton.
Most airlines expext their trainee pilots to cover the cost of their training.
This is usually recoupted during the first few years of service.
Why is this so different for your brother?
.

Maybe the creditors have agreed to wait for the house to be sold as they will get their money then.

I think part of why it doesn't add up is because the OP has admitted she doesn't have any idea of the exact figures and the $700 a month is what the parents have been saving on behalf of her children. For all we know he's been giving them $2,000 a month.

Yes

The brother's situation isn't that unusual, the sort of scheme it sounds like he was on was pushed by the airline(s) as being attractive because there was a actual formal structure to the refund of the lump sum paid at the start of training...they could actually see when they would break even.

To digress; of course once upon a time most airlines expected to pick up the training tab themselves and simply bonded pilots long enough to amortise the training costs..no cash up front at all certainly made it easier for those from low income families to have a crack at getting into the profession.......but that was then.

OP said:

£150k was roughly what was spent.

So I don’t know exactly how it works but some of that £150k ends up in a bond.

The OP didn't say it was all paid upfront. She says that £150k was the rough total of what her parents spent.

Still a hell of a lot of money, though! OP's brother must have known in advance what sort of amount of was involved in his training (presumably so did the parents as they were doing the paying). But this doesn't change the fact that it was the parents money to do with as they wanted. It's not OP's right to decide for them.

This has then been paid back to my brother in the form of his pay packet for the past 4 years.

So your parents have put £33,600 into savings for your kids so far, yes?

'Maybe the creditors have agreed to wait for the house to be sold as they will get their money then.'

Right so ignoring the completely unethical aspect of that, are the parents actually planning to continue sending £700 a month to the grandchildren's bank accounts even if the brother doesn't go to the Middle East, once the debts are paid? Because they'll probably want that money and if they're so badly in debt they're having to sell their house it sounds like they need it.