Parents are finally relieved of legal pressure to ‘provide for’ adult kids

As a parent, you always imagine you’ll provide for your children, even after death. 

But what happens when one or all of your children grows up to be…well, unpleasant? 

Perhaps you haven’t heard from them in years; perhaps they never visit and only get in touch when they “need” something, i.e., money. 

A change of law in Ireland could see parents allowed to cut children out of their will – meaning they would no longer be “morally obliged” to leave behind anything to their offspring when they die. 

Proposed by Ireland’s Law Reform Commission, the new guidelines would ensure older people look after themselves first rather than saving their hard earned cash for the next generation.

The Commission argued that people are living longer now and have fewer offspring to look after them. 

Under Ireland’s current law, children who aren’t happy with their parents will can challenge it on the grounds the parent failed in their “moral duty” to provide for them. 

While children will still be able to challenge a will in court, it will be much more difficult to win the case as under the new law, the idea that children are automatically entitled to an inheritance would be put to rest once and for all. 

The current law in Australia is similar to Ireland’s in that you don’t have a choice as to whether or not you want to leave your children anything – even if you don’t think they deserve it. 

In 2015, author and television producer Daisy Goodwin wrote about being left out of her mother’s will. 

While Goodwin did receive a small amount of cash, it was nothing compared to what her other three siblings were left. 

Despite her mother acknowledging in the will that Goodwin was the most financially stable and didn’t need the money as much as the other three, Goodwin still questioned whether her mother loved her less. 

In the piece she wrote: “This is a particularly Anglo-Saxon problem. In most countries of Europe, whose laws derive from the Napoleonic Code, it is virtually impossible to disinherit a legitimate child. The law lays down that, apart from a discretionary amount equal to up to a third, the property should be divided equally between the children.”

Brisbane-based law firm Corney and Lind Lawyers had this to say about cutting a child out of your will: “The law requires that you wisely and justly decide about adequate provision for all those who might reasonably expect to benefit from your estate.

 “If you are considering (even with good reason), not providing for someone who might have an expectation of provision, this requires the preparation of carefully documented reasons in the form of a Statement under Oath.”

Do you think our laws should change to reflect Ireland’s new proposed law?