Should You Get Involved If Your Sibling is Taking Money From Your Parents?
While it is not something we like to discuss in polite conversation, most of us have a relative that likes to take from others rather than work for a living. This occurs most often when an adult child habitually takes money from a parent. Even when the parent has willingly made gifts or loans to the adult child, it is not uncommon for an adult child to steal from a parent or use the parent’s credit cards. After a parent dies, some adult children take property from their deceased parent's estate without authorization.
If you have a sibling who has repeatedly taken advantage of your parents, you may have decided not to get involved. When this occurs in families, the parents are usually willing participants in the adult child’s behavior. Even if you try to speak to your parents or your sibling, you may determine there is nothing you can do. Most siblings who are financially independent decide they are not interested in receiving an inheritance from their parents anyway, so they decide not to get involved in a matter they believe is between their parents and their brother or sister.
As children, we do not want to get involved in the financial affairs of our parents. Most of us don’t want to be at odds with our siblings either. However, even if you do not want to confront your parents about how much of their property they are giving to your brother or sister, it is important to understand the financial consequences of this family dynamic, especially if your parents are seniors.
Reasons to Protect Your Parents' Assets From Greedy Siblings
While you may not want to inherit anything from your parents, there are several reasons to help protect your parents' assets and their estate from adult children who are taking money or property from them.
1. At least one of your parents is likely to need long term care, which is extremely expensive.
2. Because seniors are living longer, your parents may run out of money to pay their basic living expenses for housing, food, and health care.
3. Your parents may want to make a charitable gift to an educational institution, their place of worship or a favorite charity as part of their estate plan.
4. Your parents may want to contribute to college funds or leave an inheritance for their grandchildren.
5. Your parents may want to keep their farm, land, house or small business in the family when they die rather than having to sell it to pay their living expenses.
6. You may want to ensure there is enough property in your parent’s estate to pay for a decent funeral, burial, and other final arrangements. See funeral and burial expenses.
No one wants to see their parents face these types of issues. Unfortunately, many seniors are going broke from paying the expenses of their adult children. When seniors suffer from dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease or frail health, they are even more vulnerable.
In addition to running out of money to pay their own living expenses or nursing home bills, seniors in these situations face the prospect of leaving an estate with insufficient assets to pay debts. Most people do not want to leave unpaid debts behind, especially if they were responsible with their financial affairs throughout their lives. Also, debt collectors of the deceased often go after the adult children and other heirs to try to collect unpaid bills. See parents nursing home.
As you can see, there are many reasons to be concerned about protecting your parents' assets and estate. For a list of steps you can take to protect your parents' assets and estate from unscrupulous siblings, see greedy siblings.