Do people still leave their money to their children?

sevenhills

I help a 91 year old chap; and he is always rather negative about his 2 living children, they don't help him out very much.
With the state taking over the care of older people, I can understand why the state wants peoples money when they die.

Do people leave their wealth to their offspring, rich and poor?

The rich don't 'need' it, and if they are really poor, they will lose their benefits.
We read about the occasional man/woman leaving their wealth to the dogs home and such. Owners of dogs very much love their dogs, but do they make it into the will?

BobQ

Some probably do. Not all parents are estranged from their children.

That said I agree that there is an increasing tendency for children to be distant from their parents. Sometimes its deliberate and sometimes its just because children's careers, partners etc lead them to live too far away. Sometimes its the parents who do not want their children nearby.

Also there are an increasing number who see parents as a bank or a child minding service that they take for granted. I hear more young people than I used to speaking openly about asking their parents to pay for a new car or a family holiday. Older people are more inclined to discuss whether they can get a parent to sign over their house to avoid care home fees in the future or to sell their home and fund a larger family home.

On average people are becoming more selfish.

POPPYOSCAR

We will not be waiting that long.

Our needs are few so some of our money/assets will be passed over now so we can get the pleasure of seeing them benefit while we are still here.

jamesd

Yes, people normally leave money to their children and/or grandchildren. If he wants to skip the children, any grandchildren will be blameless and perhaps he might feel they are more deserving of some financial help. He could also choose to leave money to people who have been more important in his life, maybe picking a few to leave potentially life-changingly large amounts to. One of my own is intended to do that.

Alexland

I intend to help my son with all his significant life events (but make sure he also contributes a share so he feels a sense of ownership and achievement) and probably fill his pension with any leftovers. I don't intend to leave much to the taxman in my estate as I will execute a planned estate unwinding.

Terron

The ONS did a report on inheritances.

Almost half of inheritances come from parents.

I and my sisters inherited from our parents.

Linton

What else do you do with it? The problem is that with increased life expectancy many "children" will be retired by the time they inherit their parents wealth and won't have much need for it.

zagfles

BobQ wrote: »

Some probably do. Not all parents are estranged from their children.

That said I agree that there is an increasing tendency for children to be distant from their parents. Sometimes its deliberate and sometimes its just because children's careers, partners etc lead them to live too far away. Sometimes its the parents who do not want their children nearby.

Also there are an increasing number who see parents as a bank or a child minding service that they take for granted. I hear more young people than I used to speaking openly about asking their parents to pay for a new car or a family holiday. Older people are more inclined to discuss whether they can get a parent to sign over their house to avoid care home fees in the future or to sell their home and fund a larger family home.

On average people are becoming more selfish.

Yup - in countries with no welfare state there's a lot more inter-generational support - basically you help your relatives when they need it and vv. People who don't help others get no help back.

Here we rely on nanny state to take care of us.

bigadaj

There have always been useless kids, as well as poor parents, and the former are often a product of the latter.

How long the many state will and can continue is an interesting point, with continuing and escalating debt levels, then cuts to welfare are likely to continue.

It's all very well to opine that a developed country should be doing x, y or z to aid those less fortunate or vulnerable, but if everyone is trying to reduce or avoid the tax to pay for it then soemthing has to give in the end.

TrustyOven

bigadaj wrote: »

There have always been useless kids, as well as poor parents, and the former are often a product of the latter.

Also; useless kids are a product of wealthy parents.

See: "Economic Outpatient Care (EOC) is a term used to express when an affluent parent provides money to an adult child."

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Millionaire_Next_Door

atush

sevenhills wrote: »

I help a 91 year old chap; and he is always rather negative about his 2 living children, they don't help him out very much.
With the state taking over the care of older people, I can understand why the state wants peoples money when they die.

Do people leave their wealth to their offspring, rich and poor?

The rich don't 'need' it, and if they are really poor, they will lose their benefits.
We read about the occasional man/woman leaving their wealth to the dogs home and such. Owners of dogs very much love their dogs, but do they make it into the will?

I imagine most parents do. And i imagine most parents would raise their children well.

But sometimes parents (esp ones working long hours) ignore their children. Or maybe they are just self involved. So their children ignore them later. Swings and roundabouts.