By Leonie Helm | Newsweek
A woman on Reddit has described a challenging family situation regarding money and inheritance after receiving a “not great medical diagnosis and prognosis.”
User Top_Juggernaut_551, who is 38, said that her parents and brother have taken offense at how she has decided to leave her money after she dies.
“So I have sat down with my husband and figured out my will,” she said. “Obviously he will be receiving most of the estate. He has to take care of himself and our kids. He and I both have decent if not spectacular careers and he likes his work.”
Describing her brother as a “D-bag,” she said he is an addict, has taken a lot of their parents’ money and attention and has “abandoned” his daughters, who are now with the parents. “I tried to get custody of them but I am not a member of their church and my parents cut me off when I left home to get a college education instead of staying home and helping them like a good daughter should,” she wrote.
She continued: “Their congregation helped them hire a lawyer to keep the girls away from me. But strangely enough after the girls were out of my reach they stopped getting any financial support.”
She said that she is leaving her nieces money that will go only toward their postsecondary education, “If it isn’t used for that by the time they are 25 it will be donated to a charity that my parents hate. It advocates for women and reproductive rights.”
“Estate planning documents can be effective ways to offer advantages to specific relatives, even if those around them are not worthy. While a parent is normally a good choice to manage funds for their kids, this is an excellent example of using a will and trust to target certain relatives and provide them an opportunity at an education without benefitting their parents or others. Despite family threats, clear directives will make it difficult for the disgruntled parties to challenge your desires. It’s your money after all so make use of well-drafted estate documents to target exactly what you want done with it.”
Tony Freeman, Rose Law Group senior counsel
