My father and I share similar views on inheriting items and money from deceased relatives. My father does not want or expect anything from his parents, and I do not want or expect anything from my parents. My parents helped pay for my college education and that was swell, but I haven't expecting them to give me money for any other major purchases. However, I have some friends and co-workers who expect to recieve an inheritance ( I guess that is why it is called birth-right), and even then some who expect to recieve a sizeable amount of wealth from the inheritance. Inevitably there are some people who expect no inheritance from their parents because their parents have nothing of value to pass along to them (other than public debt:grin. Clutchfans, what are your views?
My view is that wealth should be kept within a family. My brother and I expect to inherit something from my dad. That inheritance will be passed down to our kids.
The perceived morality of inheritance is irrelevant, you get their debts and you'll need their assets to take care of it. Bear in mind that your parents aren't looking down on you from anywhere: they're rotting meat, and in twenty years there won't be enough of them to spread on toast; so having a little less stress about money problems might be the only relief you get. No logic trying to feel superior to other people in the same situation.
If your parents have money, then after they die that money should go to the children or closest family members. I mean, if not, who is going to get the money? It's not something you should look foward to, that would be terrible, but it should still be there.
As I am helping and learning our family business right now. It is most likely that I am headed in the direction to inherit it someday. But of course, there is always a difference between what is just given unto you and what you actually deserve. So i am making sure that if ever the business is ever passed down to me someday. It only means that i truly deserved it.
Ultimately, it's up to the people who earned the money to do with it what they will, but my parents share the same view on this as I do. Money earned should be kept in the family. I will receive an inheritance, as will my children.
As someone probably closer to leaving an inheritance, rather than receiving one, I can't say I share your views, Cohete Rojo. If someone wants to leave what they worked hard for to their children and close friends, why on earth wouldn't you honor them by having the good grace to accept it?
Agreed. That being said, no one should ever expect to receive anything unless they have been specifically promised something. Things you should talk about with your parents is if there is anything in particular you would like and if there is anything very special to them that they want someone specific to have. My mom has a lot of 'junk' that is of no particular interest to me, however, if there was something in that pile of 'junk' that she wanted me to have when she dies, that is no longer a piece of 'junk', and it would become very special to me.
I hope to not receive any inheritance because I haven't even imagined what life would be like without my parents. My parents are more important to me than anything they or anyone can give me.
I hope my parents spend every dime and don't have to leave me anything, however, if they do, I'd be fine with taking it. I'd rather them enjoy their final years and be able to afford to live well. I'm more interested in receiving heirlooms that I can pass to my children. My parents' have nice watches that we'll keep in the family, along with some antiques and collectibles that I'll enjoy with my own children.
Only for multi-milionaires. 5,000,000 can be passed from a person to an individual after their death with zero federal estate taxes at all. So if someone is about to get millions of dollars that someone else earned, I don't see much problem taxing it, or that it's even really particularly expensive.
Not in 2013. The exemption drops to $1,000,000 under current law. I suspect there are quite a few people who don't think of themselves as millionaires that will be impacted if the exemption is down to $1,000,000.
Of course. One should never take these things for granted, just as I would hope kids don't take their parents for granted. OK, at least after they've grown up and made their own way. Kids usually take everything for granted! Agree about arranging "who gets what,and who doesn't care" figured out in advance. When my father passed away, my sister and I, and Mom, hadn't discussed that at all. None of us wanted to believe that he was going to go sooner, rather than later, although the signs pointed to it. If we didn't think about it, we could pretend that he had decades left. The end result? Bad feelings that took a while to get over. Mom insisted that we promise not to argue over the estate, and we went through most of the family things ahead of time. When we lost her about a year ago, I can't tell you how much easier the aftermath was, at least in that regard. Everyone should do something similar, IMO.
Sounds like a good advice. I heard about inheritance creating bad blood on both sides of my parent's family. Seems to me all inheritance does is create disunity within the family. Unless, of course, you're an only child. Also inheritance is something taboo in my family's long line of history, apparently. It is frowned upon to speak about it before because... well... they're still around. I guess it makes you look greedy or something. Then when the time comes and someone passes away, they all turn into vultures.
My parents will be leaving their money to their grandchildren. I have zero issues with that. They are free to do what they want with the money they earned.
