”My parents have halved my inheritance and doubled my brother’s - what do I do?!”

Since her younger brother was born when she was six years old, Melanie* has always felt he was treated differently by their parents. Whereas she was shipped off to boarding school at the earliest possible opportunity, only coming home to visit twice a year, he attended a local school and lived at home until the age of 24.

Recently, Melanie and her brother were called to their parents house where they were told that they had changed how they were going to be distributing their inheritance after both of them eventually die. Instead of splitting it 50/50 between Melanie and her brother as they had previously planned, they announced they had decided to divide it into six parts, four parts for Melanie's brother (so include his partner and their twins), and two parts for Melanie and her only son.

For Melanie being told her inheritance had been drastically reduced, while her brother's had increased, felt like a huge slap in the face.

On hand to help is Psychological Consultant, Jessicca McGawley, who deals with emotionally charged family situations like Melanies' every day. Melanie and her brother clearly have very different relationships with their parents, but is it ever justified to treat siblings unequally when it comes to money and inheritances?

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