Rich Widower Determines Fate of His Enormous Inheritance – Kids Won't Get a Cent

A rich dad inherits $5 million from his late parents and works hard to build his lavish estate. But he is hell-bent on not leaving a dime to his children after his death for a genuine reason that they deemed “unacceptable.”

Born to wealthy and successful parents, a millionaire widower was dead set on disinheriting his two children and turned to Reddit after his reasoning backfired in the most unthinkable way.

52-year-old Redditor altfiftybitty claimed he was perhaps one of the luckiest to have had parents who were well established financially. And when they passed, he inherited around $5 million in assets. Despite having enough to kickstart his future, the man decided to work hard for his own money.

The Original Poster (OP)’s job paid him $180K yearly, and apart from that, he focused on investments and savings, a few of the wise tactics he’d grasped from his dad to amass all his wealth.

OP’s financial stability was chalked out well even after retirement, and he decided to use some money for trips and travel. Things seemed pretty transparent until his children dropped by to visit him.

The dad thought it was an excellent opportunity to discuss some financial planning with his daughter, 29, and son, 32. Their casual conversation eventually warmed up when OP mentioned their inheritance and that they would be getting “NOTHING” from it.

The children could listen no more and dramatically exploded at OP. They were furious with him and stormed out. OP had paid his children through college and always had his best foot forward to help them financially whenever they needed it. But his past gestures made no sense to them now.

OP was startled by the overwhelming responses and spilled the beans on why he planned on disinheriting his children.

OP was stunned by their reaction. He thought both of them had good-paying jobs and would downright nod to his decision of cutting them off the will.

The helpless dad turned to Reddit for guidance, citing, “They refuse to talk to me now. How do I amend this?” He was confused. He wondered whether he needed to change his mind or lie to his children to reconcile.

Meanwhile, people on Reddit pressed OP for more details on what urged him to cut off his children from the inheritance. User sonicblur833 stated:

“Is there any legit reason not to pass it down other than “I don’t feel like it,” especially after a substantial amount of wealth was passed down to you?”

Some people sided with the children and lashed out at OP for not giving the $5 million he inherited to the next generation. As the discussion heated up, more comments flooded in the children’s favor.

“It does seem selfish on the OP’s fault to say, “No, you don’t get the same thing I got even though I have the means, but I’m going to enjoy this money!” Redditor mooseplainer wrote.

OP was startled by the overwhelming responses and spilled the beans on why he planned on disinheriting his children. The dad was firm on giving his wealth away to charity as he was always raised donating and volunteering for the needy.

His children were aware of this, and he’d even encouraged them to follow in his footsteps. However, he was shattered when they turned his decision down despite his genuine intentions.

After rummaging through the comments, OP sought opinions on Reddit on how much money he should give his children if he decided to pass down some of his money to them. Eventually, people online asked him why he intended to donate all his wealth, and surprisingly, OP had his reasons.

“Why would you donate all of your money? The whole purpose of accumulating wealth is to pass it off to your children...I think it’s selfish to rob them of that,” another user commented.

OP said he wanted to donate because he wanted that money to help the needy considering his children already had stable jobs with good pay.

Meanwhile, another user suggested OP narrow down to a bit of compromise with his children and either donate the $5 million he inherited or pass on everything else he earned to his kids.

“Or, alternately, do the opposite...pass along the $5mil that he received to his kids, and donate everything he saved himself,” the person suggested. Several people were astonished by OP’s response.

“I actually always mentioned to my dad he should donate it all (except giving some to my sibling), but he would laugh,” OP said, adding:

“I have a sibling who has a disability and agreed to help them out when they needed it… It’s more of a morality thing where I feel [expletive] about having wealth, and there are poor and homeless people out there.”

OP concluded that he’d never seen other wealthy people being criticized for their philanthropic intentions. Though he seemed confused about how much he’d have to give his children “if at all” they’d inherit anything, he was determined not to harbor laziness in them and urge them to help others.

Questions to Ponder:

Should OP go ahead and disinherit his children, will it negatively impact their relationship in the long run?

OP’s children refused to talk to him when he just mentioned his intention of donating all his wealth. Some people argued that disinheriting his children would sow seeds of contempt, while others said OP had the right to do whatever he felt right with his money. If you were one of OP’s children, how would you react to your father cutting you off from the inheritance?

Do you think OP could leave at least a portion of his wealth for his children and donate the rest?

While some people applauded OP for his charitable efforts, others argued he needed to leave his next generation a reasonable portion of the inheritance instead of donating everything. A few claimed OP could help both his children and the needy instead of just choosing one over the other. Would you let your parents give away all the wealth to charity if you were one of OP’s children?

If you enjoyed reading this story, you might want to take a look at this one about an orphan inheriting a $500K estate from her estranged father.

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