Thursday, March 20, 2014

Plan To Have the Right Reaction Towards Siblings Before Parents Pass

The Heirs (kids) of a family called about their deceased father's Will today.

You too may be doing the same with your siblings someday. Save yourself an ugly display of human greed and bile by realizing the following:

There is no law that constrains parents to do what you want, what you think is fair, or what any other person, group, religion or government thinks they should do. They don't even have to do what their spouses do. Their property is "theirs" in every sense of the term. They can spend it all before they die, they can give it all to you, they can give it all to charity or they can give it all to your sibling(s). They can do it out of fear, love, hate, concern, spite and just for kicks. They just can't do it when incompetent.

So don't plan your life around it, don't expect anything, just treat everyone well and be grateful if fortune eases your burdens or gives you the bounty of an unexpected inheritance to grace your life or that of others if you so choose.

So, in this case, the father left his inheritance, a relatively modest sum, to two of his children who where disabled. And nothing for the other three half siblings. I can't remember all of his reasoning but who is to say he was wrong?

His disinherited son thought he was wrong, and let us all know by shattering any bit of decency and dignity he carried by hurling the most obscene invectives he could conjure from his livid mind at us.

Don't be that person. Decide now to be mature, measured and charitable. And if in fact you think a parent has been taken advantage of at your expense, or things aren't as they are claimed to be? Don't make assumptions, don't assume the worst of everyone, do your homework and then act with decency through the appropriate channels. And most of all, take a moment to realize there may be another way to look at things than from your limited perspective.

Loren M. Lambert © April 24, 2013

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