Debate as Dad of 3 Makes Eldest Son Sole Inheritor of House: 'Only Right'

A father has gotten differing opinions online after admitting to leaving his family home to only one of his three children in his will.

The man took to popular forum Mumsnet to gain insight on his dilemma, after making changes to his will following a divorce.

His first and eldest child, he explained, is his child with his first, late wife. His two other children are with his recent ex, whom he recently divorced. After revisiting his will, his former wife noticed one thing that hadn't been changed: that his eldest son gets the house.

How an inheritance or estate is split is a huge cause of arguments in families, especially between siblings over who gets what. A study conducted by financial services company Ameriprise in 2017 found that only 15 percent of people reported conflicts with siblings over money, but of those that did, nearly 70 percent of the arguments related to their parents—mostly how an inheritance should be split.

With the two younger ones being ages 6 and 2, squabbles between the siblings aren't current, but the ex-wife feels it is unfair on them. Forum users predicted arguments to come in the future.

"My reasoning for only leaving Thomas the house is because he is actually the son I had with my late wife. The house was from her parents. Being that Thomas is the only one of my children that was also their grandchild i feel it is only right that he inherit the house," wrote the father.

He added that the ex-wife knew the details of the house but had assumed that all three kids would receive an equal share. "I had actually told her to look through the previous will when we first got married, but apparently she only glanced at it. Obviously there was a lack of proper communication, but we can't change the past," he explained.

Mumsnet users were left undecided on the situation, with some reasoning that the estate is rightfully the eldest son's while others argued that it should be split between all three, seeing as it's now his property.

"Are your ex-wife and her parents going to leave their wealth equally divided between all the children including Thomas or will it go to the two blood children? The house is your first wife's inheritance and you are passing it on to her son, which is the right thing to do. But, depending on their ages, I would explain the reasoning to all the children involved," wrote one user.

Another agreed, writing: "If I die before my husband, I would expect my share of the house to pass to my children, not to any subsequent children my spouse had."

Others however argued otherwise, noting that the house is technically now his rather than his late wife's. "It's tricky," admitted one user. "But the house was left to you so it is now YOUR asset, I would therefore assume it should be decided equally between all of your children. Honestly though I don't think there's necessarily a right or wrong answer, really tough one for you."

"Purely because think of what your other children will take from this snub. Do you want to leave this earth having thrown a hand grenade into your childrens' relationships with each other?" asked another.

Newsweek was not able to verify the details of the case.