Why don't sole beneficiaries of a will share more?

[malificent7]

I mean in cases where it's clearly unfair. Such as the step mum inheriting all when there are children about or one sibling unexpectedly inheriting everything.
Jusr a bit shocked about inheritance threads ( and concerned about my own stepmum getting everything).

Why should they when they are following the wants of the deceased?

Counter question....why don't people who write the will ensure more of a share for others?

If your the sole beneficiary because there was no will you can assume the person who died knew the laws as its not secretive especially if they owned a house etc so they must have been happy with that

If your the sole beneficiary because the will said so then that's the wishes of those who died...

Why should they share really when it wasn't the wishes of those who died?

Most people understand that people leave everything to their partner surely? Anything that trickles down to the next generation is after your spouse has been cared for (so when they have died).

What's unfair is others waltzing in claiming that the deceased wanted or would have wanted ("it's what X would have wanted"...) something other than what they did want, which was made clear by their will.

Because people like having money and wealth.

Because life is expensive and that money can make a big difference to them that they don’t want to give up.

Because they can tell themselves it’s fair as it is what the deceased wanted.

We've been in the middle off this, step family situation. One well off person inheriting a huge amount and (initially) refusing to share with people struggling. All hell broke loose and the family has never been the same since.

They're not obliged to share if it's not in the will.

If your dad wants to leave it all to his wife then I'd say he's an arse but there's not much you can do. I'd certainly never leave my DC without anything and it's one of the reasons I'd never get married or live with anyone.

I will be the sole beneficiary of my mum's will and I won't be sharing any.

Actually, just reread this post and what it is really about is you wanting the money and security that your Dad wants to go to his wife.

"Fair" is subjective though, isn't it? If it's in the will, then that is what the deceased wanted and it's their money.

I agree with the OP and just think it depends on the family and the people concerned.

In my own family, when deaths have happened without wills (the person has been unmarried and without children) the immediate beneficiaries (in 99% of cases) have shared the money more widely than the "rules" state they should.

Everyone just seems to agree on this course of action and no-one argues or disagrees about it. And we have a big family too.

One thing I will say is that our family is generally close and there has been no divorce or remarriage to navigate. The only people in the family who have divorced are 2 of my dads cousins.

Because people are greedy and selfish, on the whole. I have relatives who work in family law. It’s really shocking and very common for the person to think they don’t need to ring fence their will because the beneficiary will be fair, when that is rarely what happens.

YANBU but you’re unrealistic. A lot of step parents are extremely toxic to their step kids. Just go on the step parent threads.

I'd agree with others and ask myself what kind of person I'd been during their lifetime if a very close family relative decided to leave me nothing.

I'd be having a long hard look at myself before playing the evil stepmother bingo game.

Sure, they exist. Not nearly as prolific as kids who can't wait for their parents to pop off to get their hands on the dosh.

Some people, and it seems to be on the increase, are entitled, grabbing bastards.

Why is it unfair when a stepmother/stepfather inherits from their late husband/wife? Do they not have the same 'rights'? If the person dying hasn't specified anything in their will, or dies intestate then tough.

Although, I do think the other thread about a stepmother asking for payment for a family item the other extreme.

I guess the problem with step families is that the kids see the step mother ( using Step mum as that is the case given in the OP) as somehow ‘outside’ the family, and they are then unfairly ‘getting’ family money they are not entitled to.

Whereas the spouse sees the ‘step mum’ not as ‘step’ anything but as their dearly beloved wife and life partner, and therefore as absolutely their family and entitled to all the money and security that a first spouse would get without question.

If a couple have lived together for what the deceased considered to be a significant period of time. If they felt that they were a partnership in the relationship with joint ownership of the home, savings and other assets. Then someone might well leave everything to their partner, trusting them to do the right thing in their will.

Say for example you've lived with or been married to someone for 20 years. Shared responsibility for household expenses, mortgage etc. or maybe one of you was the agreed stay at home parent supporting the other in their career. One partner dies and the main asset is the house, with a bit of savings that will help the remaining partner to feel safe about repairs and the odd extra expense that comes up. That's likely to be a pretty common scenario for people with average means. Of course you don't split it up among the family, forcing them to leave their home and lose their security.

This is on the person who's died not being proactive enough to look after their own children/having other priorities.

Make sure you have a cast iron plan!

I think that’s fair enough though if the dc’s mother worked to help provide the family home before leaving it to the father who then leaves it to the step mother who may have only been on the scene for a short time. I can completely understand the dc being upset in that scenario as they’re losing out on their mother’s inheritance and presumably against her wishes. Ideally you’d want to leave it to your spouse to then leave it to your own children when they are dead.

I guess in my case, i'd be happy for step mum or step gf to get a share. She has her own house anyway. Id just be hurt for example if she got everything or is my dear sis got everything or if indeed the cat home got everything!

Any wealth, a family home and possessions may have been partly or wholly earned or inherited by his first wife, OPs mother. In cases like that, the father should at least consider his children.

My father’s stepmother inherited everything, my dad couldn’t even get a photo of his mother, never mind any of her possessions. That was a very long time ago, you’d hope that people would be more emotionally aware nowadays. My sister in law is a stepmum. She knows her husband has made really good provision for his children, she wouldn’t have it any other way.

I think the difference with a first spouse though is that they would likely help out their own children with the money. A step parent might not.

I could not imagine ever wanting to leave everything to a partner over my own child personally.

I think some people genuinely don’t think things through properly sometimes. They may well assume that their beloved wife would automatically do the decent thing and at least leave the inheritance to the deceased own children. Clearly that doesn’t always happen.

I had a conversation with DB recently. He mentioned some complicated arrangements they had made on their very large estate. I pointed out the if he died, and his wife remarried then she would be at liberty to do whatever she wanted with the estate. This had not occurred to him.

We may simply place too much trust in our next of kin and then just write a standard mirror will believing the spouse will do the right thing.

Maybe stop thinking about the future death of your loved ones in terms of what you’ll be ‘getting’.

That doesn't usually happen though. People usually have wills and leave different things to different people. They don't leave a house to one child and nothing to another one without a reason.

People who have children and then marry someone usually realise that if they want their children to inherit anything then they need a will.

I don't think people should have to take it on themselves to share inheritance.