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?

Yes, with very young grandchildren with parents likely to have more, I see your point.
But how likely are the gp’s to fall off their perch with grandchildren that age, unless either they or their own children had their children late (or both, maybe).
What’s the average age of a grandparent of a one year old?

Fair question.

My parents are broke. But they have material assets that could be sold, like the family home. The home needs some repairs done, which they can't afford. These could become critical. I still have a mortgage. Do I fork out 30K to get them their repairs while still having a mortgage and having to provide for my own old age? Chances are they will eventually go into care and the house will be sold to pay for that. How much care they need will determine if there is anything left from the house sale. Nothing is guaranteed there.

I am working on the idea that the best thing I can do for my children financially is to be independent in old age and not need them for a thing (unlike what my parents have done). So protecting my own old age financial well being is a priority for me for that reason. If even the chance of inheritance skips a generation, then to preserve my own plan for not relying on my children, I can direct them to the grandchildren they are favouring. (They will say no).

My parents did this for my son
i actually asked them if they would do it and they were happy to
my son has bought a house with his partner
( protected his deposit )
they have a beautiful forever type home with a very very small mortgage

he’s 31 and set for life

he hasn’t wasted the money
he bought a newish car
had a big holiday of a lifetime
still has a fair amount in the bank for emerges

him and his partner have a very nice lifestyle with several holidays and weekends away each year and very low living costs
They aren’t in highly paid jobs and without this inheritance they would be paying triple what there mortgage is

They are privileged and they know it

It’s perfectly fair that the four children inherit similar amounts from their grandparents.
Your sister doesn’t get to iron out the inequalities of her children having different Dads with her parents money.

I live in Belgium and you cannot disinherit your children here so it's interesting for me to see this conversation play out. The advantage to this is that it avoids sideways inheritance like what happened to Peter Sellers' children. His fourth wife inherited his wealth and then she died a few years later, leaving everything to her daughter. So his children got practically nothing while his step-daughter got everything.

The downside to this is that I won't inherit everything if dh dies (or vice versa[.
I will get 1/4 of his estate and the three dcs will get 1/4 each. As I own half the house (and its contents[, I will end up with 5/8s of the house etc and they will get 1/8 each. They can't kick me out, however, so may have to wait until I die too to get the money. They will be expected to pay inheritance tax immediately though!

That sounds like a nightmare, having to pay inheritance tax on wealth you can't liquidate to meet the cost. What if you don't have that lying around? Either you have to buy out your siblings of their share, they have to decline that inheritance, or (if they can afford to wait), you pay them rent on their portion.

I don't know, but my mother in law died last month at 92 and her 4 year old granddaughter was at the funeral. The 3 other grandchildren are early 20s.

My FIL did it, my MIL is doing it, my mother is now telling she's thinking about it's and my father...likely to just inherit the bad genetics and maybe some navy rum 🤣 so yeah kids are sorted....takes the pressure off uni, car, house deposit though, leaving us the money to spend on the kids for memories and adventures and such like. FIL has specified education and a home in his will, MIL is giving it to me to give to the kids as I see fit, mother is doing the same, father...I hope the bad genetics are watered down at least, and il just enjoy the rum!

I think it is a good idea. Everything comes too late for so many of us.

I’m in the same boat, I won’t inherit and neither will my kids but I don’t begrudge someone who will asking the question and feeling annoyed that they were not getting inheritance when they thought they would.

Makes sense to me. They could do with the money at a younger age than when they’re retirement age, like children of the deceased might be.

It can also be a fairer way of splitting the money. Eg in my husband’s family his grandparents had two children. The eldest had one child (husband’s cousin) but the youngest had three children (including my husband). So when his grandparents died they left half each to their two children. When they eventually pass away, on one side that half of the grandparents’ money will all go to one grandchild (husband’s cousin) but the other half will have to be split three ways between my husband and his siblings. If the grandparents had left eg 50k each to the four grandchildren and the remainder to be split between their two children (parents of the grandchildren) then that would be a fairer split of where the inheritance eventually ends up.

Oh, wow! Ok.

Its good to give inheritance and money to people but only when they reach a certain age.

Inheritance is a lottery. My oldest friends have had three large inheritances. Both only children, each with the remaining parent leaving them everything, having died after short illnesses so not needing care. Also one of them inherited from an aunt who was single, again, no care costs diminishing her estate.

I've had nothing. Both my mum and my MIL required care for some years, which took all their savings and the full value of their homes. Nothing left for us or our kids.

I'm helping my DDs as much as I can now, because I'm the remaining parent and the odds are that my estate could also be eaten up by care costs

My parents are talking about reverse mortgaging. That may be a good solution, then they are taken care of and no-one has to worry about any inheritance. Takes away the ambiguity.

Well it’s lucky for our children that they are all better off than us, as their inheritance won’t be life-changing, even if we do escape the care home! But what there is will be going directly to them in equal shares, which to me just seems to be the natural order of things. When we had our wills drawn up the solicitor did suggest leaving a small sum to each grandchild before the rest is shared out, as they’d like to be named and know that we were thinking of them too. A nice idea, and we’d have gone for it if we’d had more to leave, but with a largish family this could mean that nobody will end up with anything worth having.

Out maternal grandparents left us over 100k each. They had it in writing that only our parents could take it out! Haha.

You can also ask the banks not to give it out until they're 21.

My mum did this, her thinking was they could use it for university. All my DC are autistic (though the 4th wasn't diagnosed until after she'd passed away).
DS1 is 19 and ignores the money (so far) apart from buying himself a decent gaming PC. He is still in education but it finishes this year (EHCP) gets PIP but doesn't have great chance of employment. It's over 16k, so he couldn't claim any other benefits. (Not that I expect him to, but I'm more thinking when DH and I pass away)

DS2 should be going to university this year. I'll come back to that

DS3 is 12, I cannot foresee he will go to university, he's not currently attending school (also EHCP). Very impulsive (ADHD) and I'm concerned what he might do with it at 18.

DS4 is only 10, I'm not sure if he'd want to/able to go to university.

DH feels it would be unfair for DS2 to spend his on university as the others probably won't, so we should fund DS2.

So whilst my mum was doing a nice thing for her GC, they're all vulnerable in different ways. DC3 is very much a child who could go shooting down the wrong path and having access to so much money at 18 really isn't ideal...

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.

@Pepperpotladles encourage your dc to take up a trade via an apprenticeship. My joiner has bought a house for each of his three children and we can't get a tiler for love or money without being on a waiting list. Getting a good plasterer is the same. In the near future, many in what are now high earning professions will be seeing their jobs disappear to AI and robotics.

I'd rather it went to my dc.

I'll survive without it, and I have a home. It's not perfect and I'm still working in my 60s but I'd still rather any money jumped a generation.

It’s more about the age the GC are likely to be if/when they’d inherit.

Not possible but it’s still going to be a mess. She has severe mental health issues and is an alcoholic so they’ve always supported her.

I never really met 3/4 grandparents. Died in their 50s and 60s so I wasn’t born or a baby. Plenty of my kids friends don’t have grandparents and plenty of my friends have lost a parent.

I wouldn’t piss it away on holidays, I’d love to be able to pay the mortgage off so DH doesn’t have to work till he’s 67 and the give the rest to children.

We didn't know until after she died.