In this column, Carolyn Hax discusses the emotional turmoil that can split families when a parent shows favoritism or writes someone out of a will. Hax responds to a letter sent by a sibling wondering if they should feel guilty about their brother being written out of their fathers will. The brother in this situation was always treated as the family favorite but ended up being disinherited when he did not live up to his father’s expectations. This column discusses why it is important to not be spiteful and to strive to hold families together. It touches on the emotional pressures and difficulties that favorites often face and the tensions that they have with jealous siblings.
See Carolyn Hax, Favoritism has tendency to fragment family ties, The Washington Post, June 26, 2015.
Special thanks to Naomi Cahn (Harold H. Greene Professor of Law, George Washington University School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.
