Grandparents leaving money to grandchildren?

[Honeysucklelane]

I read an article recently about the rise in grandparents leaving their will to their grandchildren instead of their children.

I believe my in-laws may be doing this and I’m not sure how I feel about it. On one hand thrilled for my children, but on the other worried they may come into a ton of money at a young age.

How do other people feel about this?

I think it makes more sense to give money to younger people (20s/30s) to help with eg buying houses…

… vs giving it to people in their 60s who probably already have some wealth.

Skips a generation for the tax man too.

How much money are they realistically going to come into? Most young people I know are acutely aware of the financial challenges ahead and I think would genuinely use a windfall to put a hefty deposit on a house.

They won’t come into a ton of money at a young age if you set up a trust fund which they can’t access until a certain age or with permissions of the trustees etc so might be worth thinking about setting something like that up?

As someone whose parents have done this I’m pissed off tbh. They inherited from their parents and benefitted from relatively cheaper house prices and a gold plated pension meanwhile we’re struggling and won’t be retiring at 53 like my Dad did!

MiL left her cash and investments shared between her grandchildren. They can't have the money until they are 25, and she stipulated that the mothers had to invest it until that time.

And what about your children’s opportunities to buy a house and accumulate wealth to enable them to retire?

I hate threads like this.
My DC will inherit nothing from grandparents. Nothing. Nor will I.
Of 4 grandparents, 3 are dead and left no inheritance to anybody.
1 remaining grandparent rents a council house.
My DC are teenagers and neither are academically thriving so not projected to get great GCSE grades which means high earning professions will be ruled out.
We have no savings. We're spending every penny we've got on our monthly outgoings, crippled by the recent rise in our mortgage interest rate.
I don't know how the fuck either of my DC are ever going to get on the housing ladder with no inheritance.
I hate inheritance wealth.
It's so bloody unfair.
My DC are going to feel like very, very poor comparisons to all their friends who have got grandparents leaving houses to them in their wills.
Not to mention the stress and worry this removes from the parents, my friends, who don't have any financial worries about their DC's future because they know they will be inheriting a house in their 20s when GP die.
Compared to the likes of me who is worried sick daily about my DC's financial future.

I'd rather it went to my DC. If I inherited I would be passing it on to them anyway, they will need it more than me as they will be going through uni, then buying a home and possibly starting a family in the future.

Depends. If you are very wealthy and don’t need the money then it’s fine imo. If you are like a lot of people and have very little prospect of an early, comfortable retirement without moving into a one bed caravan, then I’d say their decision shows they don’t give a f*ck about you! Better hope your children love you and share the wealth when they inherit, unlike their grandparents!

It makes sense.

Lots of adults manage just fine. So by the time my parents pass away their money would be more needed by my kids who will just be starting out in life.

Sure, you’re worried about the effect of them coming into a lot of money at a young age.
If they are under 18 you will control the money so not an issue.
Presumably what you are pissed about is not getting the money yourself.

I could not imagine being pissed off that my children were getting a good start to adulthood. Maybe there was a reason your parents didn't want to leave their money to you.

@MidnightPatrolI’be helped them to get on the property ladder and if I did inherit I’d I’ve helped them out and they would have inherited from me & DH.

My parents and in-laws all have a small percent of their estate going to grandchildren, which includes my two young DCs. To be honest we shouldn’t need the money ourselves as we have decent jobs, good pension contributions and we already have a large amount of equity in our house so by the time we get inheritance (hopefully many years away), we will likely pass most of what we get to our DCs anyway. I’d rather most of it go to them.

My children are primary age and recently lost both my parents. The modest inheritance I received will allow us to buy a bigger house so all three can have a bedroom in time for them really needing it to study etc. the rest can go in savings for their future. Leaving the money to us will change the grandchildrens life anyway.

Inheriting when you are in your 60s+ isn’t much help with getting on the property ladder though.

Your post makes it sound like you have financial challenges and so you want the money from your parents for yourselves.

@RandomMess I agree it’s a shitty and dare I say slightly controlling thing to do if your children have debts to pay.

I hate inheritance wealth. It's so bloody unfair.

How is it unfair? With the exception of the super rich, most people accumulate wealth working really hard and buying a home. They pass that on, but that doesn't mean the next generation doesn't have to work hard too.

Maybe that’s why the grandparents are doing it.

If their own children have debts and are poor at managing money, they might not want their own assets to be frittered in a similar way and never reaching the grandkids.

So they cut out the middle man.

My parents have done this. I do find it hard, in fact.

it’s great that the dc will have a start in life but it does feel like a rejection of me.

I am a single parent who really struggles. If it came my way, as per pp, it would be used anyway to benefit dc.

i wasn’t consulted, they just informed me.

i won’t let it taint our relationship but it is a tough one to swallow.

I feel for you but it's unfair to take it out on others. Many inheritances go on social care and nursing homes - something that is free for renters with less than about 20k savings.Life isn't black and white. I hope some good luck comes your way soon

But surely if you had it to give you would want to help your children out too.. or are you saying you wouldn’t pass down anything?

Life is unfair, there will always be people who have things you don’t.

@SuperTrooper14 it’s not unfair and you don’t need to be academically successful to earn well.

I think it’s wise to do IF you’ve discussed with your children and they agree - if your children don’t need it then you save double inheritance tax. Or alternatively, if you somehow thought your own children very irresponsible with money and wanted to ensure grandchildren had house deposit etc. But I don’t think it’s a nice thing to do it you’re going over a perfectly responsible child’s head to leave everything to the grandchildren. I would find it insulting and quite uncaring unless it’s been discussed and agreed as a family.

I think the government is going to come after that wealth either via taxes or making people pay for more care. There isn't any other money to tap tbh.