Submitted 3 weeks ago by DavidDoesLemmy@aussie.zone to australia@aussie.zone
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/feb/16/inheritance-impatience-contested-wills-australia
Tricky stuff. Talk to your family about this stuff before you/they die.
I stopped talking to my father because he didn’t pass on a portion of the inheritance like my grandparents intended. He’s a piece of shit in many ways that I was accustomed to but that broke the relationship for me.
How about nobody gets anything, we all start with a fresh slate, even playing field. LOL yeah fucking right that’ll be the day.
I agree in principle that inheritances perpetuate inequality, but it’s very hard to implement. Many elderly people would “gift” their money to their children before their death to avoid an inheritance tax. They would argue it’s their money, they should be able to decide what to do with it. Either that or elderly people would try to spend it down in their final years.
People need to quit with this idea that inequality is unfair/bad/etc. You’re not owed the same wealth/assets as someone else simply for existing.
People should be able to do what they want with their money. Doesn’t matter if they earned it or were given it - it’s theirs.
Yea, I suppose what becomes of the money is the tricky part, you need to have a gov you trust in place as well, which is also tricky, because otherwise it’s likely to be stolen. Ideally it would all go to some general wellness fund or distributed to vetted charities.
How about no, we let people do what they want with their money? My 2 goals in life atm and for the foreseeable future are to retire early with a nice nest egg, and to provide as best I can for my kids (and their kids) after I’m gone. I’ll be trying to leave them each a house with zero debt on it at a bare minimum.
I want my kids to be better off than I was. Every parent should want that for their kids. If the government ever tried to do a “death tax” or inheritance tax, I’d make damn sure I had nothing to my name by the time I am on my death bed, and my kids had everything.
Hopefully when the time comes, my siblings and I can do an even split and everyone’s happy.
Get your parents to write an actual will.
Where things seem to get messiest is if someone gets an ‘advance’ on what they’ll receive in the will, except it’s not written into the will so there is disagreement on whether they should get a full share or not.
the will only gets so far. for example there have been cases where children of a family have completely abandoned their parent/s, and a 3rd part good samaritan came along to help said person for years before their eventual death, and the will gave the inheritance to the good Samaritan, which causes the blood children to object.
the only clearcut way is to have the parties in attendance while the will is being written so that any objections wpuld get aired out while said person is alive and can make the call
As the article mentioned, wills are often contested. The cases they presented were all from people with wills, but the surviving parties didn’t accept what the got in the will.
This is understandable when you accept that your options in Australia (and many parts of the world) these days are either generational wealth or lifelong poverty. Not saying it’s ok, just to be expected.
…GOOD!
Ilandar@lemmy.today 3 weeks ago
I feel like if you have a sibling like the one in the article no amount of planning is going to prevent this situation. Some people are just more greedy and selfish at a base level. Like what kind of person is left an entire house and thinks “yeah, I deserve all of this and my siblings deserve nothing”?
DredPyr8Roberts@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
"Like what kind of person is left an entire house and thinks “yeah, I deserve all of this and my siblings deserve nothing”
The person that was there taking care of the parents, getting them to doctor appointments and taking time off work to provide for them while everyone else was absent physically and/or financially. Nobody else cared when they were alive, they dont get to care now that they are dead.
Ilandar@lemmy.today 3 weeks ago
That’s exactly the type of selfish and greedy attitude I’m referring to. You’re not owed anything for being a “good child”, you don’t earn an inheritance like it’s some kind of delayed job bonus. The parent brought all of you into the world without your permission, they should leave an equal amount to all upon leaving it. If people have an issue with that then it says a lot more about their ego and inflated self-worth than anything else.
hanrahan@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
What ? that’s bullshit, you’re not an employee on a deferred share scheme. If you don’t want to do the looking after, don’t.
joelfromaus@aussie.zone 3 weeks ago
I have one sibling and as far as she’s concerned the world owes her. “Owes her what?” You may ask? Everything. I’m not looking forward to the inheritance dispute that’s inevitable when my parents pass.
hanrahan@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
I’ve had that discussion with my mother (father passed many years ago) precisely for that reason. She said we each get 1/3, which, surprised me as I’d assumed she’d leave whatever was left to her 2 grandkids (brothers kids)
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 2 weeks ago
This is what wills are for. Get your parents to make one that’s iron clad so all she’d be doing is wasting her own money disputing it.