inheritance - what's fair, what's right?

[ForGladOtter]

Hypothetical (not really) situation and I just would like others' take on it:

Two siblings inherit their parents' property which is now for sale. Sibling A is married with two children and is comfortably off. Sibling B is married with one child and is less financially well off. Sibling A would like the proceeds of the sale to be split three ways between the grandchildren. Sibling B would prefer a 50/50 split with the sibling. Sibling A thinks Sibling B is depriving the grandchildren of an equal share. Sibling B feels they are having to give up some their entitlement in favour of Sibling A's children. (Sibling B feels they also have more need of the financial windfall than Sibling A. It is acknowledged that their own circumstance is not the responsibility of the other. But it does feed into how they feel about the request for the 3-way split).

I would love to hear others' thoughts on this.

Split between siblings then siblings pass on to children if they want to.

Saying that my dm left me and Dsis 20k each and dgc 10k each . (Dsis doesn’t have children) Dsis feels somewhat cheated that ‘I’ got 50k and she got 20k. Even though 2 of my dc were adults and the money went straight to them. And the third child went into a savings account for when he turns 18. But it was my mother’s wishes. In terms of finances we earn more but have higher outgoings. Dsis owns a property outright worth 150k and has a few thousand in savings. Dh and I have a mortgage but probably 100k equity and around 12k in savings.

Haven't read everyone's replies but you are all wrong - here's why. Don't sell, if the property is mortgage free, remortgage it - e.g. if house is worth £300,000 with no mortgage, you can get a buy to let loan worth £225,000. Split that between siblings A & B. Each getting £112,500 - Nice. Now rent out that property to again clear the mortgage and whatever extra you have between the rental income and the mortgage payments you split into three and give to the grandchildren in an investment account that they can access at 18 or 21 assuming they are young or whenever they want to purchase a home. When they get older (assuming they are young) remortgage again at 18 or 21 and split again for pension/retirement. Rinse and repeat as many times as needed.

I'd agree a 50/50 split between the siblings, they can then share whatever they wish with the children.
If the roles were reversed and siblings A had fewer children than B, strongly suspect they wouldn't be suggesting the split between grandchildren!

50/50 & up to parents to decide how much their kids (ie grandchildren get)

It should be split between the siblings with the grandchildren left a nominal amount each.

Definitely split equally between the two siblings and then if A wants to give it to their kids that's their decision to make.

It’s quite simply a 50/50 split. That’s how inheritance law works if there is no will. What each party decides to do with their share is up to them. I have children, my sister does not - I do not expect her to inherit less than 50% for the sake of my children!

Nope. Financial advisor will advise 50/50 split THEN parent of sibling will distribute g/child share.

Split between siblings. No question.

Unless the will stipulates otherwise, the money should be split between the two siblings (ie. the direct descendents of the deceased).

What's fair is whatever was in the original will, eg two people inherit the house, sell and split the proceeds 50/50. If the original owner of the house had wanted it to be any different, they would have put it in their will.

Once the two siblings have acquired their shares, they can do what they like with their own chunk of money - put it on a horse in the 4.30 at Ascot, if they want!

So would sibling A suggest that they would have taken all of the money if sibling B didn't have a child?

Sibling A is being a CF and inheritance is always made the simplest if split equally between children and not grandchildren.

Gift each GC a sum of money in the will (e.g. £10k each) and then the rest is split 50/50.

50/50 between the siblings. Grandchildren can inherit their own parents estate. A grandchildren will then split 50/50 . B grandchild will get 100% of his parents estate.

Wrong? Everyone? But you haven't read everyone's reply?

I'm not sure if you have dealt with the declining health or death of a parent but not everyone wants to get into more debt, pay the excessive costs of doing so and repeat, while tied in with a sibling where a relationship has crumbled or is about to based on the above scenario. Some want to be free of the hurt, the responsibilities, the reminders, and move forward. Money and profit are not always the overriding factor. So, nice idea, for some perhaps, but probably not ALL.

Well said. His post telling every other poster they're "wrong", whilst admitting they hadn't read all the PP's posts, was laughable at best. To then advise just one "solution" to this problem, without taking any account of the specific circumstances (particularly the financial imbalance between the two siblings) as if it's a "one size fits all" ideal, tells me he is not a person who should ever give "advice" to anyone. 🙄

This. Siblings A sounds greedy.

I really don't think it is grabby and I think the general attitude to not discuss inheritance is so unhelpful and can leave families open to bad misunderstandings and even fallings out. We have been dealing with a parents estate this year and I am so thankful that my sibling and parent were all on the same page and knew this before our parent died. There was total transparency and very open convos about this in the years prior.

Unless there is a will which specifically mentions that the grandchildren get a share of inheritance, or a specific % split for her siblings, then both siblings get a 50%-50% share, and they can distribute to their own children as they so wish.

Sibling A is a cheeky bugger.

In this situation I think 50/50 split is the only way to be fair. I would def feel disgruntled about missing out on some useful money just because they sibling didn’t feel they needed it.

we recently had inheritance as the ‘grandchildren’ which my grandfather had been left entirely to my dad. Dad did a deed of variation to my sister and me as he didn’t need all of it and thinking ahead to us having to pay another load of inheritance tax on the same money when it passes to us when dad goes. My sister and I have an uneven amount of children but that was never a factor.

50/50 split between siblings

Absolutely split between siblings. It goes down one generation, not two unless specified. what did the will say? If no will surely by law it is split between the children of the deceased.
Giving to grandkids isn’t really fair - what if one of them had more kids? Then those grandkids get nothing .

So, sibling A, wants 2/3rds of the inheritance to go to her family, with sibling B receiving 1/3rd.

Cheeky fucker!

Split 50/50 between siblings. If sibling A wants to pass some money on to her kids she can. But asking sibling B to forfeit some of their inheritance in favour of A's children is so fucking cheeky!

And where would you draw the line? What if A had 10 kids? CHEEKY!!!!

OMG that's so messy!!

Inheritance is for kids not grandkids.