Danielle Cahill, Partner in our Private Wealth Disputes team, and Daniel Bradshaw explore the largest wealth transfer in history and what can happen when inheritance, expectation and family reality collide.
The Great Wealth Transfer is usually discussed as an opportunity: a chance for families to plan carefully, preserve wealth and pass assets smoothly from one generation to the next. But it also carries risk.
More wealth is changing hands between generations today than at any point in human history. In the UK alone, an estimated £5.5 trillion is expected to pass from baby boomers to their children and grandchildren over the coming decades. Yet this “great wealth transfer” is anything but straightforward.
Families today are often more complex, more geographically spread out and hold more diverse views on how their wealth should be managed than ever before. Their types of asset classes are also more complex. Wealth may no longer sit simply in the family home, a bank account or a share portfolio. It may be held through trusts, family investment companies, business interests, offshore structures, digital assets or property across several jurisdictions.
That matters because complexity can create uncertainty. Where family members do not understand what assets exist, where they are held, who controls them, and what they might reasonably expect to receive, mistrust can escalate quickly.
Blended families and modern bonds
The traditional model of inheritance – wealth flowing down direct bloodlines – no longer reflects the reality of modern family life. Blended families, with step-parents, half-siblings, and relationships built on a more modern understanding of closeness rather than strict biological ties, are now a normal part of daily life. A second marriage, a long-term cohabiting partner, or children raised as one’s own but never formally adopted can all create uncertainty about who stands to inherit and, crucially, who believes they should. A will may say one thing, but the tapestry of a family’s history may say another.
That gap between legal entitlement and emotional expectation is often where families run into difficulties. A surviving spouse, adult child or a stepchild may each have a very different perspective on what is fair when it comes to inheritance.
The law has not always kept pace with the reality of the modern family. The Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 offers a useful route to challenge a will that fails to make reasonable provision, but any such challenge needs to be properly evidenced. Difficulties can arise in situations where people feel they have a moral claim to an estate, but the evidence does not bear that out.
Living longer, spending more
Life expectancy in the UK continues to rise, but healthy life expectancy has not kept pace. The result is that many people are living longer, but they also have significant care needs. The costs of funding that care may significantly reduce the wealth available to pass on. A decade or more of residential or nursing care fees may erode an estate that a family assumed would sustain the next generation.
For others, however, a longer life does mean more time to enjoy the wealth they have built. Many choose to travel, make lifetime gifts, support charities, or simply live well, rather than preserving assets for the next generation.
Under the law of England and Wales, there is no automatic right to an inheritance, and a person is generally free to spend their own money as they see fit. The emotional reality, though, is more complicated. Adult children may have structured their financial plans around an anticipated inheritance. They may have worked in a family business, provided care to elderly parents, or been told that provision would be made for them. Where there is a gap between expectation and reality, disputes often take root.
Families without borders
Wealth is increasingly international. Families may hold assets in multiple countries, retire abroad, or have members scattered across different jurisdictions. A British couple who retire to mainland Europe, a trust settled offshore holding property in London, adult children who have emigrated or business interests held in international structures are everyday scenarios for high-net-worth families, and each one creates layers of legal complexity.
Jurisdiction determines which law governs the distribution of an estate, and different legal systems may produce starkly different outcomes. A family may find that the answer depends not only on what the will says, but on where the person was domiciled, where the assets are held, and which court has authority to deal with the dispute.
Geography also creates emotional distance: family members who live on opposite sides of the world may have very different relationships with an ageing parent, and very different views about what is fair when the time comes to divide the estate.
Planning ahead, or preparing for a dispute
The great wealth transfer presents both an opportunity and a risk. For those with the foresight to plan carefully – taking account of blended family dynamics, international complications, and the changing nature of assets – there is every reason to be optimistic. Open conversations, clear documentation, and expert legal advice go a long way toward preventing disputes before they arise.
Succession planning should not only be technically effective; it should also be risk aware.
But where planning has been inadequate, or where relationships have broken down, the tensions described above often escalate into formal disputes. Whether you are looking to protect your legacy, challenge a will, or resolve a disagreement within your family, early legal advice is essential.
