A few different reasons. In June 2006 Warren Buffett announced donating the vast majority of his fortune to charity. Then that fall I spent 3 months in California with my cousins. My uncle and I had some interesting discussions about the extent to which parents should support their children before and after they turn 18. Then more recently Nigella Lawson made headlines here for saying she won't give a penny to her children and then finally last night there was a discussion about it on a TV programme based on the Lawson story. I was surprised how many different and strong points of view there were just from a few people who voiced it. It's also an issue I've wondered about based on how my dad has brought my sister and I up. Like even if one believes that people should have the choice to do so or not, does inheritance (especially from the very wealthy) disincentivize hardwork and if it does, how does that serve as a good social function? And stuff like that.