Does a parent ever have the right to spend their child’s inheritance?

It is not uncommon for parents and their kids to fall out over money, especially when those kids don’t get an inheritance they were promised. More than ever, life is expensive, and many younger adults rely on the promise that their older relatives will give them some money or property to give themselves a little more financial security for the future. They hope that it will be a straightforward way to make their life a little easier.

Unfortunately, relatives in charge of safeguarding this resource can also be tempted by its ability to make their lives easier. It doesn’t take much for them to be able to justify taking from this gift for their own purposes and dealing with any consequences later. It comes as an unhappy surprise for the rightful recipients, not least because the likelihood of getting that money back is slim. While desperate times can call for desperate measures, it is important to do the right thing with an inheritance. It is the kind of benefit that can truly change someone’s life for the better, and it can be a crushing disappointment not to have it.