‘Just a stupid piece of dirt’: This Texas woman’s husband wants to exclude her daughter from a family inheritance to keep it in his ‘bloodline’ — why Dave Ramsey says he’s ‘calling BS’

moneywise ^ | May 31, 2024 | Adam Palasciano

[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.”

[FLT-bird]

If you come into the picture when a kid is a teenager and has a relationship with their father, why should you feel obligated to give the step kids an equal share of your family’s inheritance?

Are they going to share what they inherit from their father equally with any kids you have with her?

I could see how this situation might be very different if the child was very small and had no relationship with their biological father....ie if you were the only father they had ever known.

[packrat35]

Maybe the step daughter and he do not get along. There could be a lot more than we are being told.

[Spacetrucker]

If you go into a relationship with a divorcee expecting the benefits a wife brings into it, you better damn well be prepared to accept the responsibility it entails as well. This goes right back to the morality of it; is it moral to think any less of a stepchild, REGARDLESS of age/parental involvement than it is your biological child? I addressed your comments on parental involvement in my last comment (which you conveniently ignored) and challenged you to directly address th3 morality of your belief.

[FLT-bird]

I simply don’t agree that somebody has a moral obligation to treat another person’s child exactly the same as they would their own. You have an obligation to your spouse to be a good loyal spouse yourself. That does not automatically mean you have to treat the kids they had with somebody else exactly the same as you treat your own kids.

That doesn’t mean you should treat them badly. It is just an acknowledgement that you are not that kid’s parent.

[where's_the_Outrage?]

“It is just an acknowledgement that you are not that kid’s parent.”

And chances are both the mom and child will remind you that you are Not the father and therefore do not have authority to oversee and punish.

[Texas Fossil]

Weigh the options. You are not bound by the default state law provisions.

It should not be an internal family dispute, but often is.

People who don’t contribute seem to be more difficult with this.

Those whose who help, it is kind of a no brainer, if the farm is an active operation.

If you own it outright, not common property, you should come to an understanding with the wife if not first wife.

Put it in writing is best. Does not have to be done by an attorney.

It is pretty simple in Texas.

A Will is best done by an attorney if you can afford it and the property is valuable.

[ridesthemiles]

4. The Step kid is female & SHE will marry further OUT of the FAMILY.

[minnesota_bound]

My middle sister stole most of our fathers life savings. She was also the executor of the estate and tried to steal some of the life insurance money. Insurance companies probably see stories like this all the time.

My aunt and uncle had a son-in-law whose father had his 2 brothers steal the money left for all 3 of them and divided it among the 2 of them.
I told my aunt & uncle about what was going on with his brothers estate and my aunt & uncle set up a trust for their 5 kids because of this.

That trust as discovered by their kids skipped them and gave the bulk of the money to the grand kids... My cousins could take money out to say repair the house or hospital bills etc. They still made out as the parents house was sold at $1.55 million and they divided that money up among the 5 of them and the other money divided up among the kids (I do not know when they get it). My uncle had some millions among a family business and stocks he owned.

Me? I will divide up the money equally to my nieces and nephews. I have 3 sisters and for 2 of them their kids get the money only when their parents are gone as my 2 sisters would steal the money if they could!
I expect my nieces and nephews to hurry them along with a pillow... : )