Did Someone Talk Your Rich Uncle into Writing You Out of His Will? In Texas, It’s Too Bad, So Sad.

My rising second grader recently crossed the line between “sounding-every-single-word” reader to “can-read-anything” reader.

How did I know she had crossed that line? She started reading every offensive bumper sticker out loud looking for clarification.

Recent gems include “Male escort for hire,” “I got kicked out of boy scouts for eating a brownie,” and “If you byte my floppy, my hard drive will download.”

You can tell there are some real wordsmiths in the offensive bumper sticker industry.

Today on a luxury RV she saw one that read, “I am spending my children’s inheritance.”

Kelsey asked if I was spending her inheritance.

I laughed so hard that I almost ran off the road my car that really shows (and smells of) the ten years it has spent with four kids and their bodily fluids, drinks, and snacks.

But the sticker did get me thinking about people who do expect an inheritance.

There’s a lot of them out there. Almost 70% of millennial expect to get an inheritance. Millennials say they plan to quit working at age 59, on average, a full six years earlier than Baby Boomers, who expect to retire at age 65. To help make that possible, they’re hoping for a windfall in the form of an inheritance.

The snowflakes are in for a rude awakening. Only 40% of their parents plan to leave an inheritance, and worse yet, 24% of them expect contributions from their millennial children to fund their retirement.

Ouch.

Okay, so let’s say you have a rich uncle. I mean really rich. He has no kids of his own and you and your children are his closest living relatives. You fully expect to inherit most of his estate. Who else would he leave it to?

Your poor uncle has a stroke and before he dies, his buddy (and attorney) convinces him to disinherit you and leave his entire estate to charities. Can you sue the attorney for interfering with your inheritance?

The answer in Texas is no.

The Texas Supreme Court recently ruled that there is no cause of action in Texas for intentional interference with inheritance. In a 5-4 decision, the court held that the uncle in question had the right to dispose of his property how ever he saw fit, and the nephew had no right to a future inheritance.

I hope the nephew didn’t quit his day job.

We all know that raising kids is really expensive. Do you hope to leave your kids an inheritance? Leave a comment or send me an e-mail.