Okay, here's a weird one. About my parents in law rather than being a parent.
I believe I've mentioned before that I'm the executor on my parents' in laws will. I've been working for a year to get all the information about their finances. We've all been very worried that they can't afford the care they now need. Both have Alzheimer's, and are now moving to a stage where they have to be in advanced care. They're both nearing 85. They have, for their entire lives (their children have said this many times), said that they had absolutely no money. They were broke. Since they were in basic care for the last year they were about breaking even with their pensions/retirement/etc. Now, with the care they are going to be getting they are going to be short by about $8K a month. Very worrisome.
The final number I got today as we combined all their accounts, the sale of their house, and everything they have is 1.8 million dollars. They're set for the rest of their lives.
This brings up a range of emotions. First, relief. They are self sufficient for more than 20 years. Great. Second, mild rage. Okay, not so mild. They refused to help their children with college tuition, with getting a vehicle, with basic needs, telling their children they had to get jobs to get clothes for school. While I agree these are valuable lessons, and my kids have all had jobs, and they are doing all they can to pay their own way, they also know my wife and I are here as a security blanket and will support them 100%. My inlaws told their kids they were 100% on their own because they had nothing with which to support them. They always had money to decorate the house, to support their own hobbies, but my wife and her siblings had to buy their own jeans.
Now that I have this information I don't quite know what to do with it. My wife is I think partially in shock. I'm pretty sure anger will surface soon. The issue is that her parents are mentally to a point where you just can't ask them to be accountable. They should be accountable, but any discussion we have today will be forgotten tomorrow, and they won't even remember things from the past for which they should be accountable.
I feel like an absolute asshole for being glad that the will is split equally between the kids, and they're not going to live long. But that's where I'm at. I don't know if that makes me an asshole or not, but seeing first hand how they treated finances for the last 25 years, and knowing the stories about it from my wife and her siblings just pisses me off something fierce. What would you guys do or feel in this situation?
Sorry for the long rant. I needed to put it into words. This ends my Ted Talk.