What do you think would be a good amount to leave each child in your will?

That depends on your circumstances, and your relationship with the kids.
If you also want to earmark something for charities or whatever, decide if how much of a percentage they would get.

As much as you can afford? Some people don’t even have the option.
Just give all the money to them, even if its a billion dollars.

I’ve been advised not to do bequests by percentage because it means the value of everything has to be figured. Better to make specific bequests, they say.

But of course you can’t leave more than you have. So I don’t quite understand the question. You’re not obligated to leave anything.

My husband and his brother spent a good chunk of their father’s money taking care of him with home hospice for three years. They felt it was right to use it on him instead of waiting to inherit it.

Nothing. It would be going to a cat sanctuary.

A good amount would be enough to pay off their mortgages but not everyone can do that.

Like @filmfann says,itdepends entirely on your circumstances and your relationship with your children.

How about a small loan of 1 million dollars?

I have two kids; I decided long ago that I would split it 50/50. Anything else starts getting into value judgments about which kid deserves more, and I am not going start evaluating them that way.

Better to ask an attorney or accountant in your area before deciding, since they’d know legal inheritance laws/ tax laws.
Otherwise $50k each would be a good start.

I’ve put some charitable bequests in my will as well as small amounts for each of my nephews. For my grandchildren, I’ve left them an amount that will fund a gap year, an adventure or some education but not so much as to “spoil them.” The rest is split evenly between my two kids.

That all pre-supposes there is anything left because while I don’t live at all extravagantly, my main goal is to do what I want and need to do with my money while I am alive.

Nothing. Give to your local animal shelter instead.

Bank accounts and investments can be split equally and that is easily done by listing them as beneficiaries. Other assets probably easier to name what goes to who to some extent, it really depends. Setting up a trust in some cases if you have a lot of money. Some people give more to the child who does a lot of care towards the end. Sometimes that is done before dying, or set up in a way that the other children are unaware.

My grandfather’s philosophy was to pay for any education and training his kids ever wanted, and leave no cash at the end. I think my mom got ~$10K anyway, after he passed away. My mom and uncle helped pay for my college. I’m not expecting much $ from her whenever she passes away, maybe a portion of the equity from her home. I’m coughing up plenty of dough for my kids’ education. Not sure how much $ I will have by the time I kick the bucket.

This question is rather like a “what’s your favorite food?” question.

^^ Or like “What’s the right size of a portion of food?”

^^ Yes, impossible to answer with a dollar amount; ridiculous number of variables.

A certain amount is set aside up front for us to give to anyone we want for any reason no questions asked. The rest is split 50/50 between the 2 kids.
After my death some people will be very pleasantly surprised.

@LuckyGuy I have little surprises for some people too.

I have one kid, and when my wife and I both die she will have control over the estate.

We wrote the set-asides into our wills ahead of the usual spousal “if I die you get everything if we both die the kids get it.”
We both figured it would be nice to give something to friends/nice folks/small organizations/etc. where a cash payment would be important. It would be a blast from the past to people who do not expect anything but can really use the help.

If someone doesn’t have a will yet and they want to give some cash to someone instead of it all automatically going to the slide they can just make the people a beneficiary on a bank account if the spouse’s mane isn’t in the account. For instance I have two accounts that if I die 100% of both goes to my sister because they were inherited from our aunt.

We each have a dedicated “chunk” of money that we are giving to anyone we want. the details are listed on an attachment referenced in the will. We can change the attachment when we want. I can have a list of 5, or 10 or 20 or whatever number of people and the amounts to each as long as they add up to the set-aside funds.
An amount that would have no effect on me might be extremely important to someone else. It might help them get a car so they can get to work. Or it might get that bad credit card bill paid off. Or just be a surprise because they deserve it for just being nice.
Even if I never see the results I sure enjoyed making the secret list.

Typo: slide should be spouse and mane is name. Ugh sorry.

None. Ungrateful shits don’t deserve a single penny.

Your Q confuses me. Did you mean how much should be put aside
for the mistress(es)?

I would have thought this board was against generational wealth.
Shouldn’t your wealth be taxed at 100% when you croak?