A contentious new trend in will writing that skips a generation has the potential to cause family infighting befitting an episode of Succession. A growing number of older Australians are leaving their children out of their wills and bequeathing their money and property to their grandchildren, a report by estate planners Safewill has found. The number of wills naming grandchildren has tripled in the past five years, with one in 10 now including them as key beneficiaries.
While the share of the will left to grandchildren has increased from less than five per cent to more than 12 per cent overall, the number of wills bypassing their parents altogether has risen by 225 per cent in the past five years, the report found. Safewell's Principal Solicitor, Isabelle Marcarian, says grandparents can see that while their children are mostly set up by middle age, their grandchildren are facing a tough economic climate. "We're seeing these grandparents are saying: 'I've set up my kids, they're fine, they've got a house," Ms Marcarian, a specialist estate planning lawyer told AAP.
"'But now I'm looking at my grandkids and they're facing a property market that they cannot afford'. "An inheritance of $100,000, $200,000, $300,000 would really help them with a home deposit." With $3.
5 trillion in assets due to be passed on by baby boomers over the next 20 years, many older Australians are concluding that passing their wealth - be it in cash, shares, property, or crypto currency - to their grandc.