I have noticed recently that a certain type of article/story has started to regularly appear in local and national newspapers. Before you all get carried away with all manner of political, and or… hold-the-front-page type crime stories. No, what I have noticed in increasing numbers is that families across the land appear to be regularly falling out about what happens to the money when Mr or Mrs old-person eventually kick-the-bucket.
On investigation, it seems that we ‘Baby-Boomers’ – as we leave life behind us, there appears to be regular kerfuffles within the younger members of extended families as to who gets what and when financially when we snuff it. I know strictly speaking that this is not a completely new phenomenon, but I would make the point that in the past, this sort of thing was usually restricted to those families who were perceived to be very well-off indeed. Not, repeat not, your average Mr & Mrs Bloggs on an average income.
However, those of us within that ‘Boomer’ generation, have for almost the first time in history, become better off financially than their children, nay grandchildren. Indeed, many of us have in the past decade or so, have helped children in our families get on the property ladder, as house-purchase deposits have become more and more difficult to raise for young people seeking a home of their own.
This wasn’t always the case I can assure you, but the ‘numbers’ were not quite as frightening as they are now. Funnily enough, with this subject in mind I was reminiscing the other day about the fact that when my mother and father died (Yes, died, not passed away – or some other limp non specific phrase!) myself my brothers and sister paid for their funerals and other left-over small debts they had left behind. Not a problem, as this sort of thing was pretty typical and very normal in those days. However, times have changed significantly. Nowadays, many of my generation have done very well indeed, in terms of things such as property that they perhaps own – and significantly, minus any mortgage that they have now paid off.
So then dear reader, you don’t have be among the usual recognisably rich to any extent – if, when you die may have in terms of property and savings a few hundreds of thousands of pounds to pass on to assorted family members. However, this in itself regularly seems to cause ructions within even the closest of families.
As a Boomer parent and grandparent, I like to think that I/we can help them at some time in the future with what is left after we are gone, but – the thought of a litigious family fall-out is something that it appears happens all the time under these circumstances. Without appearing completely naive, you would think that a legally produced and fairly distributed last-will-and-testament would be the end of the matter for most people, but – I am told that increasingly this situation is not always the case. Indeed, far from it apparently!
I have a friend who is a solicitor who works in this specific area, and he tells me that over the past few years he has noticed that increasingly legal action has almost become a norm amongst family members and particularly siblings about who should get…what, and why, from recently deceased family elders. For the record, we have recently drawn-up a Will via the friend I mentioned earlier – and we both think it fair to all parties involved and when our time eventually comes to depart the scene of our (hopefully) long lives, all will be hunky-dory with our loved ones.
Mind you dear reader, we both intend to live our lives to the full, and after that – the ‘kids’ can happily have what money is left; but by that time, hopefully there may not be that much left to actually argue about.