Greed Doesn't Pay

[AccountingDrone]

Eh, I have spoken about how my paternal line were minor robber barons [ok, fine a dozen assorted mills does make one a minor robber baron, except we had a habit of treating the employees and their families like family to the point the gathered employees would run union organzers out of town themselves. Go figure.] but *I* personally have no money. I am not particularly fine with how it happens, but I accept it was my grandfather's doing. The business was sold to another fabric concern because my grandfather was getting on and my father was career military and my other uncles were not particularly suitable to running any sort of business. So we took the money and ran, in a manner of speaking. My uncles blew their portion, my Dad invested his, my grandfather lived off his, and the remnants were given to various charities *including major enough bequests to a particular Baptist university* that there are buildings and stuff named after him on campus. And for a number of years they sent letters to us various grandkids wanting us to donate money too.

You have *no idea* how tempted I have been over the years when money was tight and Rob was out to sea to shoot them back letters requesting the full ride with full housing and food and books and lab fees and anything I could manage to figure out that they would normally charge a student for and go for a degree in comparative theology all the way up through doctorate based on the grounds they left an heir in 'poverty'.

Not that I would actually want to attend the place, but it would have beat living in housing and being broke all the time when he was still an E3 in Norfolk...I have major issues with the idea that they don't even allow *radios* in the dorms and require church attendence and such. How you can try and lock down the burgeoning brains of kids you are trying to educate to nothing but what you want to slam into their brains depriving them of learning how to chose the right path through understanding your choices is beyond me.

And my brother and I still get letters from these idiots wanting to send lawyers over to help us 'estate plan for when we pass on to God'... *sigh*

[taxguykarl]

It sounds like the son would have flunked out anyway Seriously, he could have gone for a degree and blew it--even if he took five years of blow-off classes; that's a five year free ride.
Didn't Wilma hear about Dickens's Bleak House? Did she really expect to gain any more? Never mind, I think I answered my own query
Wilma did not gain much more than my mother along with her brother (M) and cousins did from great aunt & uncle's (E&O) estate (low 5 figures). It is interesting to note that M wanted to decline it due to mother and her cousin taking care of E&O for those years. I suggested that M spend the inheritance on mom.

[lordlundar]

******* RM drops the link here and runs away **********

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFldBVWFgWo

Post 4 says you were too slow.

[Seshat]

In a way I'm glad my dad had no money when he died. There was no worrying about who gets how much, or why such and such wasn't fair. And it sounds like the guy in the OP made his wishes clear in advance. At least charities benefited from it.

Oh, if my parents do leave anything, it's going to be horrid. At least there's just me and my brother and my brother's kids. If I can manage to accept that it's going to be unfair, and be all zen and calm about that, I can reduce the stress.

[Gilhelmi]

My Father learned well from my Grandfather. Grandpa did not believe in Trusts, he thought they were some type of scam. (in his defense, Grandfather farmed during the "Dirty 1930s" on the Kansas/Nebraskan boarder. I too would also be very skeptical of lawyers and/or the government if I managed a farm in those days.)

After a few lean years due to my Grandpa mismanaging land, Father managed to keep the farm together. Grandpa sold a 'quarter' of land to help pay the nursing home bills, without realizing that disqualifies you for medicare and that Father was trying to raise a family on that land. We know now, it was due to early stages of dementia.

Worse, in Grandfather's Will, he left me and my brother land. If you are thinking "That sounds great though." No, it was horrible. It disqualified us for a lot of financial aid when we went to college. If we sold the land, Father would make a lot less money. So we would get less than $2000 a year in rent from Father. Grandfather was confusing 1950's costs with 2000's. He actually thought that would be enough to send us to school for a year.

My Father was brilliant though set up a long term Trust with me as the Trustee. This protected the land from medicare making us sell it to pay for "end of life" expenses, and will allow me and my brother to keep the land (and get a few thousand from rent every year).

[Racket_Man]

Post 4 says you were too slow.

darn it this is what happens after a LOOOOONNNNGGGGG and busy Monday night (we were literally bored for the first 6 hours the we got slammed very late in the evening)