Study Reveals Growing Trend of Unequal Inheritances in Blended Families

Parents are becoming increasingly likely to leave unequal inheritances to their children, particularly where the family includes stepchildren, a recent study from the United States has found.

“In nuclear families, you see more equal bequests. But now that the number of complex, blended families is growing, there is a shift toward unequal bequests,” said study co-author Robert A. Pollak, from Washington University. “Parents with stepchildren are much less likely than those with just genetic children to include all children in their Wills and plan equal bequests.”

Researchers studied data from over a 15 year period and found that over that time the percentage of parents over the age of 50 who had provided unequally for their children in their Wills rose from 16% to 35%.

In addition, where families included stepchildren, parents were 30% more likely to provide unequal bequests in their Wills than parents whose families consisted of genetic children only.

According to the researchers, the growing trend of leaving unequal inheritances is likely to be partly due to the rising numbers of blended families. However, the study did identify a number of situations where parents would be more likely to leave a larger share of their estate to a stepchild, including:

• If relationship between the parent and stepchild has lasted for at least seven years, the stepchild has the same likelihood of being included in the Will as a genetic child.
• A stepchild is 7% more likely to be included in the Will if the stepparent has cared for the stepchild’s children.
• If stepchildren are predicted to have a lower income than the parents’ own genetic children then they are more likely to include the stepchildren in their Wills.

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Source:

https://source.wustl.edu/2016/02/equal-inheritance-growing-less-common-study-finds/