Posted on 06/03/2024 4:37:01 AM PDT by where's_the_Outrage?
Family dynamics can be a sensitive and thorny topic to navigate, especially when it comes to divvying up an inheritance.
According to a New York Life Wealth Watch survey, a phenomenon known as the “great wealth transfer” is well underway. It’s projected that 15% of American adults are expected to receive a sizeable inheritance in the next decade from a parent, spouse, or another individual.
Inheritances can be a fantastic financial windfall that can certainly help build generational wealth. However, it doesn’t always come without complications — especially if you already have a complex family situation.
Rochelle, 36, from Houston, Texas, found herself in this exact predicament. She called into an episode of The Ramsey Show for advice.
She told finance guru Dave Ramsey that her husband inherited 33 acres of land after his father passed away. Rochelle and her husband share two-year-old twin sons. They also co-parent Rochelle’s 14-year-old daughter and her husband’s 13-year-old son from previous marriages.
Her husband expressed a desire to keep the land in his “bloodline” — leaving his stepdaughter out of the land inheritance entirely.
Ramsey told Rochelle he thinks family should come before money. “I’m calling BS,” he said, adding, “this kid is more important than a piece of land.”
(Excerpt) Read more at moneywise.com ...
1. He inherited the land. It’s his separate property to do with as he desires.
Yes. And if it is farm land, it is much more complicated. Depending upon how many children are involved. And if they have actively been involved in it’s operation.
Some of our land has been in the family for 135 years.
I own 1/2 interest in it (6 farms).
The more cut up the ownership and the more widespread the owners are, it becomes difficult to handle.
Bump
Bump
[I’ll bet $50 donation to FR that, if you reversed the scenario and had the woman inheriting the farm, the answers would be 100% in favor of her cutting the step kid out.]
It’s very common in the military. A woman with kids marries an active servicemember. She convinces him to adopt her kids. Once the adoption is complete, she divorces and then demands support payments. Each kid gets an ID so the woman has base access and kids rate exchange and commissary privileges.
Agree
Like it or not he earned what he has to give it’s his option.
Wife should have established rules to fully include both step kids before marriage. And yes, the husband is acting poorly here. But why are the kids even involved in it at this point?
Baloney. I’d, and always have, treated my stepdaughters equally to my biological daughter, as well as my adopted son. Any man who doesn’t is an ass.
Bless you.
Any man who doesn’t is an ass.
+1
When my wife and I married I had 2 minor children and she had none. We then had 2 children of our own. My wife and I pooled our assets and earned more over time. These assets are in a trust and will eventually be left to the four children equally. The inheritances will be a tidy sum for each. Meanwhile my wife will inherit a considerable amount from her parents. Some of this will be gifted to all 4 children as per instructions from the grandparents. The remainder will be contained in a separate trust for the benefit of my wife. Eventually this estate will be inherited by our 2 children. Why did we do it this way? The oldest 2 children, mine, have a mother. She has assets and a responsibility to leave them to her her only 2 children. I do not know the amount but it is none of my business. My wife and I have given a lot of thought to the arrangement and feel it will be very fair to all 4 children. I don’t know what Dave Ramsey would say about this but I really don’t care. By the way, the state planning attorney felt hat the plan is reasonable and normal. There is no one size fits all.
I think it depends. If the child was very young and doesn’t know their father, I could easily see it. If the kid is older and has a relationship with his/her own father....I can understand why the Step dad/mom would think its that child’s parent who is responsible for them.
We have a smaller farm but face the time to set up something to pass along our property. First generation owners and worked hard to pay for the ground. I’m afraid the ground won’t mean much to my kids since they didn’t put in much “sweat equity”. I also have a daughter who hasn’t talked to us in 8 years so there’s that I’ve been told she can’t be left out (?)
It shouldn’t be this hard
[I am a recent widower married forty-nine years. I have two step-sons, They are the only family I have left and they have been godsent to me.]
A common sense solution.
“The couple plans to sell their current home and use the money to build a new home on the inherited 33 acres. Rochelle told Ramsey that she contributes to nearly half of the family’s income, which makes the situation regarding her daughter even more unfair.”
There’s always more to the story. They are basically turning it into community property, but the husband wants to cut his stepdaughter out.
Also, they are in their 30’s, the will they write today, which should be written to provide for their minor children, will likely be redone entirely different 40 years from now when their kids are middle aged. They may decided to leave the whole shebang to the one child who is not a wastrel or skip them all and leave it to grandchildren.
If the husband dies first, the wife can write a new will any dam way she pleases.
And of course, if yhey divorce in 15 years, she’s taking half anyway.
Yes, what you said...There are many reasons people set up inheritances in many ways.
I understand leaving property to your children but not your stepchildren.
But, the wife says she’s contributing 50% to the house that will be built on the inherited land.
If the property will be left to his sons only, and not to her daughter, then she shouldn’t have to contribute.
If she contributes to the house, then doesn’t his inherited property become marital property under the law?
Depends on what? Whether that “man” has a moral compass or not? Both of my step-daughters had both myself and their biological father in their lives from infancy until now - though we never collaborated on parenting strategies we had an amicable relationship and NEVER treated the girls as anything but our own.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.