Planning a will has a way of forcing you to look at your family in a practical, uncomfortable way. You have to ask yourself who actually needs help, who will feel slighted, who will question your love when you’re no longer there to explain it? Splitting things evenly sounds simple, but it almost never is.
A month ago, this man’s best friend had a scary incident with his health while he was spending time with him. He rushed him over to the hospital, and luckily, nothing was terribly wrong with him, and his best friend was able to go home a few hours later.
However, this was a wake-up call, and he now realizes that something could happen at any moment, and he might unexpectedly lose his life.
He had never before framed his existence in that way, and he didn’t have a will, so he quickly set about creating one with his lawyer.
“…I have 2 daughters and a son, both of my daughters are way better off financially than their brother, they’re both doctors, and they both make a bit over 200k a year, and they’re both married to good young men with good jobs that also both make 6 figures,” he explained.
“My son, however, was never a school kinda kid; he did things more with his hands. He’s a car mechanic, and he works with a good buddy of mine. The pay isn’t the best, but he likes the work. I didn’t really intervene with it, but I was never really happy about the path he took.”
Anyway, he chose to equally divide up his assets between all three of his children, even though his daughters are of a different socio-economic status than his son.
He thought that would be the most equitable position to take, and he does love all of his kids equally. His wife has since gotten upset with him and pointed out that it’s unfair, since their daughters are thriving and their son could really use the extra help with his income.
His wife also wants their house to go to their son, since their son rents, while their daughters are homeowners, but that didn’t sway him to change his will.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
“I told her that’d be me punishing my daughters for working hard and doing good in life, to me he had the same opportunity to have the same success as his sisters, but he chose a different path, which is fine, but he knew this wouldn’t give him the same life style as them and that’s on him,” he continued.
“I also don’t want my daughters hating me after I’m gone for favouring him over them because I really love them all the same.”
Well, the road to becoming a doctor is not an easy one, and it’s something few people can achieve. I could never accomplish that, yet my sister has.
So, that’s my roundabout way of saying that I don’t think he’s being quite fair to his son by saying he picked his own adventure, as perhaps he didn’t have what his sisters had, and being a doctor was not a viable opportunity for him.
With how expensive the world has gotten, I think it would be more fair to give his son that extra money, and he could have a private conversation with his daughters first to gauge their feelings on it all.
Do you think he’s wrong for splitting up his assets three ways among his kids? Or should he listen to his wife and give their son the extra financial help?
You can read the original post below.
By Bre Avery Zacharski
Hi, I'm Bre, Chip Chick's CEO! I have a degree in Textile/Surface Design from The Fashion Institute of Technology, and... More about Bre Avery Zacharski
