It would depend on what you mean by “Screwed”. My grandfather left everything to his second wife, cutting his daughters and grandchildren almost completely off. Of course given her other attributes, she was undoubtedly a comfort to him in his old age, which his daughters weren’t so much. So maybe it wasn’t completely unjustified.
When my mom’s father died he left me something in his will, but did not leave anything to my brother. I found out that they’d had a falling out and grandpa had deliberately excluded my brother. I gather my brother was rather bitter about it. (I only have the story of what happened between them from my mother, but what she told me is consistent with their characters and my brother was not blameless.)
About ten years later my mom died. She’d socked money away for retirement, and never retired. There were about a dozen different retirement and investment accounts, plus her house was paid for; when we totaled it all up I was surprised how much there was. Her will said that everything was to be divided equally between my brother and I, except my brother got the house specifically to make up for being excluded from grandpa’s estate. The house was worth at least twice what I received from grandpa. Plus, on one of her insurance policies she’d put my brother as primary and me as secondary, so the whole policy went to him. Considering how everything else was divided, I’ve always wondered if that was her intent.
Some people bury their parents and have nothing but the bill for the funeral. I was lucky that she was smart with her finances and left me anything at all. And my brother needed the house more than I did; he never lived on his own or had a job more demanding than a paper route. I just wish my mom had been more willing to talk about stuff like this before she died. If she’d said my brother needed it, I’d have understood. As it is, she went to her grave, and beyond, swearing that she didn’t play favorites. And I was the executor of her will, so I got to do all the work.
My grandmother left everything to me, as a minor with Mom as my trustee – the house, stock, savings, bonds, etc.
What she didn’t know when she died was her husband (my grandfather) had put all the couple’s property in a living trust before his death, which came first. The living trust’s beneficiaries were the foreman at the plant and an uncle. Grandma owned almost nothing, and upon her death, the trust took over.
The only thing that escaped granddad’s clutches was a few shares of AT&T stock that grandma had kept in her name from before marriage – that, I got. But our attorneys couldn’t break the trust.
My great aunt was single. She alway said that she’d leave everything to me and my sister. She went into the hospital in her 90s saying that. Saying that she should really make up her will one of these days. She never did. She died there. She had a house and some savings. Everyone in the family knew her intentions. My father was her executor. He sold everything, and divided it between her 8 brothers and sisters (all dead by then) and their descendants. So he traced out an 8 way split 4 generations, rather than just honor her wishes. That’s my dad. 
Fortunately, it hasn’t made a large different in my life, although I think it would really have helped my sister. She’s a teacher and just barely gets by.
That eight way split may have been required by the local intestacy law, and your dad may have been legally liable to the other heirs if he had just given all the estate to his own daughters.
I’m not saying that’s the case, since I don’t know where you live and what the local intestacy law is, but usually if a person dies intestate and without children, the law says it gets divided amongst the siblings or their descendants. A person who acts as executor is legally required to follow the intestacy law.
Remember, any time you hear someone say “I don’t have a will”, the correct reply is: “Yes you do. You have a standard government issued will called the intestacy law. Are you happy to have the government decide who gets your assets?”
Not meant as legal advice, but just to comment on a matter of public interest.
My partner had a rich relative die a few years ago (uncle I think, or great-uncle). He went to the trouble of specifically naming every one of the 20 relatives he had and what they got in his will - except her.
Apparently she’d upset him by being insufficiently subservient 20 years previous.
My dad’s trying to avoid this. He’s a very active 72 year old, and is dating (more than me on BOTH accounts really). Problem is every woman he meets wants to get married and he wants us kids and not a new wife to get his stuff when he dies. It’s been quite the deal breaker so far from what he says.
Thought it was interested when he brought it up because I know it’s a common issue and even happened to a family friend. Parents separate or one is widowed. Parent remarries and dies. New spouse inherits the estate and gives it all to his/her side of the family when they die.
My sister. When her lesbian partner of eight years died, she left everything to my sister. However, her children’s two fathers contested it, and got everything from a blatantly homophobic judge. Then they took it all, except the children, who they did not give a damn about.
That’s awful, Annie.
I don’t think my father has a will. He doesn’t have much in assets, and I’d like him to spend my inheritance on himself, travel and such, while he still can.
I don’t know how to broach the subject without sounding greedy. He has a long term partner…a lovely lady, who I consider my second mother and my children’s Nana. I just don’t want there to be any surprises.
Ugh. You weren’t technically screwed over by the will, but yeah, definitely by the will executor… :mad:
Not a promise broken, but a surprise… my brother.
Granny died over in England, and when the lawyer contacted us regarding the will, we found out that my Mom, my sister and I, had all been named for cash bequests, and my brother, (who was hardest up for money out of all of us,) had been left out. That was pretty much a complete shock to me.
We discussed it a little, including wondering if Granny thought he would just “waste” the money, and eventually all agreed to each spend about a quarter of the money we got to help him pay off the debts he was carrying.
Is the dealbreaker simply that they want to get married or that they refuse to agree to a will that divides his estate among his family from his first marriage?
He just needs to date women who are richer than him!
This is close to what happened in my case that I posted above. My brother needed the assets more than I did, but dad saw me as the responsible one with more responsibilities. Maybe your granny did not like your brother for some reason, and wanted to spite him at the end. She probably did not realize (or care about) the burden it would place on you.
Even the concept of an inheritance is so foreign to me. My parents have zero assets. It’s only pinging my radar now that the grandparents in my life are starting to age. I don’t expect to receive anything from anyone in my family. My Aunt will probably leave her assets to me when she dies because she has no children, but my Aunt is still in her 40s.
My Grandma wants to leave the house to my Aunt and mother, and for some reason thought it would be a great idea to make my mother the executor. The house is two houses down from my Aunt’s, my mother is emotionally unstable and has a terrible relationship with my Aunt, I swear my Grandmother has no sense. After having a panic attack about the prospect of my mother becoming her neighbor, my Aunt finally talked my grandmother into making her the executor. That’s at least one future crisis averted.
Well he’s already tried the marriage thing twice and neither worked out so I think it’s safe to say he’s not a real fan of the institution anyway. 
Apart from that I’m not sure. I know he says he has a will. I think to a certain extent he just doesn’t want to complicate things and is pretty wary of women seeking financial security more than genuine companionship.
Hey, he’d be more than OK with that, I’m sure.
A friend of mine died and he had about $600,000 in his profit sharing plan. His was separated from his wife for many years but never filed for divorce. Her son had her sign the papers turning the money over to him without her knowing what she was signing. Morally I believe he was entitled to it although legally he did screw her out of it.
My wife’s grandmother left most of her estate to her two sons, but gave a few thousand dollars to most of the adult grandchildren. My wife, the oldest and only female, and the acknowledged favourite, got Grandma’s most prized possession: an elderly, flatulent cocker spaniel. Which immediately cost more in medical bills than any grandchild received. But we loved that dog–so this story is really about how the other heirs got screwed.
Not strictly screwing via a will, but my wife’s side of the family is pretty fucked.
FIL married a 2d time while still married to MIL. Wife has 2 sibs. FIL had 2 kids w/ 2d wife. When MIL/FIL got divorced, their marital property was an apt building, a bunch of land, a property management business, and a bunch of investments/coins/stamps/etc. MIL was drunk at the time, and ended up with a life estate in the building - the remainder which was to go to my wife and her 2 sibs.
So FIL and his 2d family kept all the other real and personal property and the business.
Well, MIL never gets the divorce decree recorded. Long story short, FIL gets MIL to agree to sell the bldg and split the proceeds 1/2 to MIL and 1/2 to FIL. So after MIL died, instead of 1/3 of the bldg, my wife inherited 1/6. The 2d wife and her 2 kids from the bigamous marriage stand to share the other half of the bldg’s proceeds, and everything else. (Disclosure, I have no idea if FIL has a will, or how much of his assets he holds jointly w/ wife #2. Our assumption is that he is giving my wife and her sibs and our kids zip.)
We’re very comfortable with my earnings and our savings/investments, and what my wife got from the MIL’s estate wasn’t chickenfeed. But it does sorta suck to see her half siblings treated so much more favorably than her.
My mother did not leave a will but left notes attached to various items designating which of her children/grandchildren was to receive a particular item after her death. My father outlived my mother and removed the notes from anything she wanted me to have. I learned of this after his death. He mentioned several times that I had an inheritance coming from his will but his will made no mention of me. According to my sister he had left me something but changed his will without my knowledge simply because I did not and do not share his racist/political beliefs. My father was a very vindictive man who almost certainly would have voted for Trump.
Yes, but I can’t tell you how it turned out, because four and a half years in, it’s still ongoing.
I can tell you that the lawyers’ shares will now each be something like three times what my share is.
Moral: if you’re the executor, follow the fucking will.
If you’re not the executor, don’t start distributing the estate the way you think it ought to be.
We’ll see if there’s any serious consequences (Alberta).