Re: “But Walt did indeed leave money for his family.”
This part of the premise indicates that the writers - and viewers - are completely unfamiliar with the job benefits of being a government union employee.
Walt’s financial fears for his family were completely absurd.
I’ll guess his pay was in the $65,000 range.
His health care costs would be completely covered.
When he became too sick to work, his disability pay would essentially be the same as his normal paycheck.
His union contract provides an automatic life insurance policy - probably $250,000.
He would have the option - even after being diagnosed with a terminal illness - of buying an extra $50,000 of life insurance each year.
If he lives for 3 years, that provides a $400,000 tax free policy for his family, which would pay off his mortgage.
When he dies, his wife would receive his retirement pay plus health coverage for the rest of her life - at least $3,000 a month.
His children would receive special supplemental funding plus health care - I don’t know how much - until they become 22.
Since his oldest son is disabled, he would probably receive supplemental funding and health care for life.
His kids could attend a good public university simply with student loans and by working summers.
His wife, as a widowed mother of two, could get essentially free job training education for several years.
If she wants to be a stay-at-home Mom, then, most likely, the family would have to be careful about money and cut out some of the things they got used to when Walt was working full time, but NOTHING essential.
Also - the $9 million Trust that the “Gray Matter” folks are supposed to set up for Walt’s disabled son is problematic, to say the least.
They will have to commit multiple felonies to launder the cash, since large amounts of cash are completely USELESS in America unless you are buying or selling illegal goods, or buying legal goods from criminals who commit bank fraud and tax fraud.
At the beginning of series the family wanted him to get the best Oncologist/treatment which was outside their Govt provided Public School Teacher Health Insurance network so it was to be all out of pocket. Also, he wanted to leave enough money for the wife to raise the new child and pay for 2 college educations because he had minimal life insurance and couldn’t get more due to the cancer. I forget what his initial target was, but the 9 million at the end was substantially above it.
I don’t know where you are getting this information, but not much of it is true.