The father telling his debt-laden grown children “this is my inheritance” was applauded

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A man is involved in a fight with his three grown children over the money he is due to inherit after his mother’s death.

Although the circumstances leading to receiving an inheritance can be difficult, there’s no denying that a windfall can be life-changing, whether it means clearing unwanted debt or setting yourself up for retirement.

Read more: What is Estate Planning?

However, not everyone is lucky enough to receive an inheritance. In fact, a Gallup poll found that only 28 percent of American adults expect to inherit money or valuable assets from a relative.

File photo of a last will and testament. A man has drawn criticism from his family for what he has decided to do with his inheritance.

roberthyrons/Getty

However, those who inherit from a recently deceased friend or relative have a pretty clear idea of ​​the ideal asset they would like to receive. A survey of 2,000 US adults, conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Absolute Trust Estate Counsel Planning, found that 65 percent of respondents would like to inherit property.

That’s the situation the man who posted on Reddit under the handle u/One-Sprinkles3801 found himself in. “My mother passed away and gave me the house, I am selling it for about 500 thousand dollars”, he wrote.

He already has a pretty clear idea of ​​how he intends to spend the money. “I plan to use part of it for a big vacation and then the rest to go into my retirement fund,” the man explained. His grown children, however, had other ideas about what the money could be used for.

According to the man who wrote the post, the three “decided to go to expensive colleges” and although he “paid for their books and gave them money for food,” when it came to education, the cost of the tuition “was on them. .”

Read more: How to consolidate student loans

“They knew the college would be with them from the beginning,” he emphasized.

As a result, he said, each graduated with “a whole bunch of debt.” It’s a debt they had hoped to pay off with the proceeds from the sale of their grandmother’s house.

However, when their father discovered his plans for the money, they were not happy. According to the man, he “started an argument about how I made so much money, but I wasn’t planning on giving them any of it.”

Although his children insisted that the money should be used to “pay off their school debt,” their father refused, noting that doing so would eat up 75 percent of the $500,000 made from the sale of the house. .

Read more: 7 Long-Term Investment Strategies

“I told them it is my inheritance from my mother,” he said. “She wanted me to have this.”

Although they were left angry with his response, the man insisted that a day would come when they too would benefit from the money – but they would have to wait. “I reminded them that when I die they will have their inheritance from me, but I am not dead yet,” he said.

Commenting on the situation, Diane Gottsman, an etiquette expert and founder of the Texas School of Protocol, supported the father in standing up to keep the money.

“The bottom line is that the money is left to her son and he can choose to do whatever he wants with it,” Gottsman said. Newsweek. “If the grandmother wanted to leave it to her grandchildren, she would have declared it in her will.”

Gottsman argued that the man’s three children were “adults” who were ultimately “responsible for paying off their debt” and should not be relying on their father for financial assistance that he might not be able to provide. offered.

“It’s great when family members can provide help and support, but this person may be on a fixed income and relying on their inheritance to help with retirement,” she said.

“The responsibility of being an adult requires you to act like an adult and take responsibility for the debt each person incurs, which includes school loans.”

This sentiment was echoed by many commenters on Reddit. One user wrote: “They are adults. You provided for them when they were kids, but they chose to attend their own schools and accepted that it would put them in debt.”

A second agreed, commenting: “They made choices against your judgment and now they expect you to pay for them,” with a third adding: “At the end of the day, it’s your money and you made it clear to them to your children than above. Education was their responsibility”.

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