A hypothetical scenario

[Ilovetheseventies]

What would you do if say one of your parents left money to someone such as a person they were close to a carer or cleaner or friend. You thought they were decent enough but it was a large sum of money say 50,000.
What about if you were left this money by someone would you feel awkward and embarrassed or concerned you would offend the rest of the family.
I'm only really asking as I'm a nurse and we are not allowed to accept gifts besides which money doesn't really motivate me. I'm just interested to know.

A friend of mine was left money by her uncle because she changed her life to look after him - moved house and everything. She was utterly stunned - she’d had no inkling there was even that much money. £250k, and he left a note in the will saying why.

The immediate family weren’t best pleased - they got token amounts. They grumbled but they left it alone in the end. My friend was a bit embarrassed at first but now sees that her uncle genuinely wanted to change her life in recognition of the sacrifice she’d made to look after him. And change her life it did!

I think most of the problem is that when people know that an elderly relative has money, they tend to see it as belonging to them even if the person is still alive. So they think the surprise beneficiary is getting “their” money.