Baby Boomers U. S. (The Blog) |
| Consider “Fair vs. Equal” Inheritance Distribution Posted: 26 Sep 2010 04:22 AM PDT  Helga Hayse First in a Series of Guest Posts by Helga Hayse author of Money Love & Legacy: Conversations That Matter Between Generations Fair vs. Equal It's not surprising that children don't always like what parents decide about inheritance. It pits the concept of meritocracy against the idea of parents loving children equally. When siblings learn the contents of their parents' will, they replay their childhood scenarios, when they judged whether their sibling received a gift that cost more, got a larger slice of cake or was allowed to stay up later. It's not that different from when siblings protest "It's not fair" when they are young. They expect their parents to give them each the same slice of the family pie. When it comes to inheritance, parents are often caught in the middle. For example, a couple has two sons. The older son is a successful doctor who worked his way through medical school. The other, a high school dropout, aimlessly moves from place to place with no plans for his future. The parents decide to leave the older son less money and put the younger son's share into an incentive trust. He can't get his money if he doesn't change his behavior. However, they're wondering if it's fair to, in effect, punish the older brother for being successful while rewarding his younger brother for lack of ambition. On the other hand, would it be fair to give them both equal shares, without restricting one from squandering his inheritance? The bottom line is that siblings are less likely to battle it out in court if they know in advance the reasoning behind their parents' decision. About the author: Helga Hayse educates people on the role that money plays in family relationships. She works with financial and estate planning groups about how to help their clients overcome resistance to planning and conversations between generations. If you would like to Guest Post for Baby Boomers US, please visit the Guest Post for Us page for the guidelines. You may also want to join the Baby Boomers US Forum for conversations by Baby Boomers about topics important to Baby Boomers!          
|
(aff). Follow along over the next few weeks for some insight on handling some converstations that most of us usually try to avoid but shouldn't.| You are subscribed to email updates from Baby Boomers U. S. (The Blog) To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for commenting on my blog. I will write back soon!