MONEY MORAL DILEMMA: Should Richard have a ring of truth?

magphen

All the relations had their choice of pieces as a memory of the Grandmother. There should be no problem with the value of the momento unless whether it is financial or sentimental.

I would suggest the the ring be kept safe for his daughter until she is of an age to understand its value when she can enjoy it as she sees fit. This may be to sell it to fund any further education or to give a good start in adult life or, if they are a well off family, to use it and appriceate its beauty and to remember her Granny with.

As far as splitting sale proceeds with cousins...... Get Real!:rotfl:

Success Is
To laugh often and much
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends
To appreciate beauty
To find the best in others
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived
This is to have succeeded

sheenaf

I agree with the majority - Richard should keep the ring for his daughter. He has not stolen anything and if the ring is not being sold it cannot be shared anyway. At the moment everyone is happy with what they have and will soon get more from the house sale. Why throw a spanner in the works now.

sue_balu

Richard should keep the ring and give it to his daughter when she is grown-up and ask her to keep it as a family heirloom to pass on to her daughter ad so on.
Richard then has no additional monetary gain to any other cousin. Also who knows the value of the items they had as keepsakes????

janine22

If the daughter is old enough to remember the grandmother then why not just give her the ring without advising her of the value. I have a (financially) worthless ring of my grandmothers which I cherish and keep safe as it is priceless to me.

They do not appear to know for sure how much the ring is even worth so they should keep it safe and don't ever find out. Just cherish it for whose it was.

The financial value in these things is not important, they are irreplaceable and therefore priceless.

siany1971

To me, it seems obvious that he should keep the ring. All members of the family had equal chance to take it as a momento and who's to say that the other family members did not get lucky with some of their finds also.
He should get ring insured, keep it for his daughter but the family will always have the value of it as an asset should they need it desperately in the future.
If not, it will become a wonderful heirloom for furture generations as his Grandmother would surely have wanted.

Sian

bye_bye_band_G

My sister sold a heirloom she had had from our mother without reference to me or my brothers and didn't offer us first dibs.
My upset over this was that the item had gone out of the family, not anything to do with the money, which she naturally didn't share, wouldn't have expected her to.
Richard may find that the cousins are happy for his daughter to have the ring as it keeps it in the family, they may value that continuation of ownership as I would have done given the chance.
But if he did feel he should sell it, offer it to the cousins first, they may, as I did, feel very upset that they never had the chance to save the item for the family if he doesn't.

Feebee_2

Keep it Richard, it's what Granny would have wanted!!

nodwah

Keep the ring!
A similar thing happened to me when Great Aunt A died, Aunt B cleared up the estate and later on gave me a ring as a birthday present (which I thought was a bit cheeky as it wasn't hers to give as such) it turned out to be valuable, tho not nearly as much as in your example, and I know there's no way Aunt B would've given it to me if she'd known. I'm keeping it as it has family history going back 3 generations and it's in my will to be kept in the family in the future.

sluggy1967

FIONA_K wrote:

The ring should be kept as an heirloom for richards daughter. Regardless of how much it is worth the sentimental value is more. I have a ring that my granny used to own, it isnt worth a fraction of the ring richard has but I now wouldnt be without it.

Dont be greedy, the ring will be worth more as a keepsake to remind you of your granny!

This is an important point. If Richard (& his wife who was the one who realised it's true value) were good parents they would have brought their daughter up to not be so shallow as to think that the value of an item which once belonged to a loved one is more important than treasuring as a keepsake.

pjala

The only thing is, his wife got it valued - so now you know the value it becomes more than a keepsake. I am really surprised that the majority of people wish to go down the immoral selfish route of just keeping the ring and not telling the other brothers/sisters. It seems to me that people really are selfish, and given the opportunity will do what's good for them rather than what's right.
Is this what most of you mean by "get real"?
It is a very short term view to the problem, the long term view is to keep in good relations with your relations, therefore share with them any details that are available. (long term selfish reason) you may actually need them more than the £8000 at some point in the rest of your life.
But I guess if you are selfish and they are not, then they would probably help you anyway, so selfish wins again........
What worries me, is that if you won't tell the truth to your relations, then friends/colleagues are right out of the picture.