Editorials & Other Articles

Zorro

(17,942 posts) Sat Sep 20, 2025, 12:14 PM Sep 20

'I Want My Inheritance Now': Older People are Losing Their Life Savings to Family Members

As housing stress and cost-of-living pressures mount, adult children are asking parents to unlock their wealth early — or to stop spending it.

After years of renting, retired Australian nurse Joan thought she was finally securing a permanent home. She handed over her pension savings of A$70,000 ($46,700) to a family member to build a small guest apartment in their backyard.

The plan was to live there for the rest of her life, free from the stresses of an unaffordable rental market, and then leave the apartment to her family. Instead, the arrangement collapsed within a year. The unit was unfinished — with no kitchen or functioning laundry — forcing her to rely on the house. Relations soured with her relative, who had since remarried, and the agreement fell apart.

“I was told to get up and pack up and get out of there,” said Joan, who spoke through a lawyer and asked to use an alias and withhold further family details to protect their privacy. Stripped of her savings and barred from collecting her belongings, she was left with nothing — no home, no pension, no safety net.

Her experience fits into a pattern of elder financial abuse that’s increasingly common in Australia and other developed nations. Experts warn such cases will rise as aging populations and cost-of-living pressures converge. Those aged 75 to 85 are most at risk, says Robert Fitzgerald, Australia’s age discrimination commissioner.

One of the most frequent forms of abuse is “inheritance impatience,” Fitzgerald says, when adult children pressure parents to hand over savings early. Its equally insidious twin is “inheritance preservation,” when children block parents from spending on aged care or medical treatment.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-18/elder-financial-abuse-is-on-the-rise-as-cost-of-living-crisis-grows?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc1ODM4NDgwOSwiZXhwIjoxNzU4OTg5NjA5LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUMlNWS1RHUFdDSkMwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJDNjgyQTUwQzJCRDM0MTFCQTgwQjEwQjZEQjczQzM1MSJ9.UXdcoMDFF5VEPoGbSb86Yf6q0gtscNzeD_cgfs1I9JU

8 replies

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'I Want My Inheritance Now': Older People are Losing Their Life Savings to Family Members (Original Post) Zorro Sep 20 OP

I am 77 .... anciano Sep 20 #1

I have little, and what little I have I am NOT going to give to family members. valleyrogue Sep 20 #4

DO IT Skittles Sep 20 #6

Wow, a hundred years ago when I took Property I rsdsharp Sep 20 #2

One might expect one's offspring to not lie and take advantage of mom or dad. Igel Sep 20 #5

This is one of the major reasons I am opposed to "assisted suicide." valleyrogue Sep 20 #3

Gotta disagree, here. I think if people are ready to go, GPV Sep 21 #7

family is all too often VERY overrated Skittles Sep 21 #8

anciano

(1,969 posts)

1. I am 77 ....

Reply to Zorro (Original post)

Sat Sep 20, 2025, 01:10 PM

Sep 20

I no longer have any life insurance and plan to spend as much of my savings as possible on myself.....I want everyone crying when I go!

valleyrogue

(2,341 posts)

4. I have little, and what little I have I am NOT going to give to family members.

Reply to anciano (Reply #1)

Sat Sep 20, 2025, 01:46 PM

Sep 20

One of them, an in-law, had a dog euthanized when he could have been fostered out because she thinks pets are disposable.

Fuck that noise. Family will get nothing.

Skittles

(167,760 posts)

6. DO IT

Reply to anciano (Reply #1)

Sat Sep 20, 2025, 05:30 PM

Sep 20

you don't owe ANYONE ANYTHING!!! Fuck anyone EXPECTING an inheritance - seriously

rsdsharp

(11,368 posts)

2. Wow, a hundred years ago when I took Property I

Reply to Zorro (Original post)

Sat Sep 20, 2025, 01:35 PM

Sep 20

that was called a mere expectancy. It’s not an enforceable right. Maybe Australian law is different.

Igel

(37,124 posts)

5. One might expect one's offspring to not lie and take advantage of mom or dad.

Reply to rsdsharp (Reply #2)

Sat Sep 20, 2025, 05:08 PM

Sep 20

Apparently expecting mere decency, honesty, integrity from a child you raised is now subject to legal standards. But then again, these are culture-specific virtues, I guess.

It does say a lot about how boomers misraised their misbegotten offspring. Or how society retrained them to be selfish pricks. (I've known people like this and so this isn't a new opinion. I'm also less than enchanted with how I raised my own little idjit of a child.)

But hey, that's just my opinion. If you think "greed is good" and all interpersonal relations are subject to legal standards and state regulation, that's a different opinion.

valleyrogue

(2,341 posts)

3. This is one of the major reasons I am opposed to "assisted suicide."

Reply to Zorro (Original post)

Sat Sep 20, 2025, 01:43 PM

Sep 20

If you want to kill yourself, do it. Don't ask medical staff to do your dirty work for you. Besides, if you have greedy relatives, they are more than willing to push the envelope and get you knocked off.

You can't trust your family when it comes to money or inheritance. You really can't.

The same advice applies to disabled people.

GPV

(73,313 posts)

7. Gotta disagree, here. I think if people are ready to go,

Reply to valleyrogue (Reply #3)

Sun Sep 21, 2025, 10:13 AM

Sep 21

then safe, painless, virtually guaranteed success with medical staff is the way to go. It's not "dirty work." I wouldn't stuff my terminally ill cat into a plastic bag and call it good. Why can't I have the same level of dignified care as my pets?

That said, you are not wrong about greedy relatives trying to make it happen.

Skittles

(167,760 posts)

8. family is all too often VERY overrated

Reply to Zorro (Original post)

Sun Sep 21, 2025, 09:07 PM

Sep 21

yup

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